On the Fast Track
by waveform
Summary: While Kim is training with Global Justice and Ron holds the fort back home, a threat from their past resurfaces. Put a fork in this one, people, because it is DONE!
1. Chapter 1

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_Disclaimer: Disney owns the characters; I'm just taking them for a test drive_.

Green eyes narrowed as the lithe young woman dropped into a combat ready stance. Her senses shut out everything except the doorway in front of her and her goal. Even those who didn't know Kim Possible recognized the look. Mission Mode. There were no death rays, no elaborate villain threats, but she wasn't going to take any chances. To Kim this was no different than any other save the world sitch. Kim surveyed the sight in front of her. _High tech laser grid blocking the entrance, cheap stun rays after I get in, and who knows how many wannabe henchmen waiting in the wings. No big._ A smile crossed Kim Possible's lips. She'd be done with this in no time.

"Go," a voice coming through Kim's earpiece said. In an instant Kim was a flurry of movement. A few well placed twists and flips got her through the grid and into the long metallic hallway without her even singeing a hair. _I guess they forgot about my first mission,_ she thought. No sooner had she come to a full stop than the next defensive measure activated; several panels on either side of the hall slid open, allowing the stun cannons to deploy and point right at her. _No cover,_ she mused. _Okay, not good. But I can adapt._ She was in motion before the first stun bolt fired. She noticed the cannons following her movements, which gave her an idea. Instead of just dodging the blasts, she used them. A well timed jump at the exact midpoint between two guns lead to said guns taking each other out. A few repeat performances turned the stun cannons into expensive piles of smoldering junk.

Once through the hallway Kim came to a large circular room. A large circular room filled with at least twenty men in head to toe black and purple suits. Kim recognized the goggled masks immediately. _It couldn't be._ Before she could finish her thought, half of the men rushed her. Kim ducked under the punch of the first one and landed a hard blow to his solar plexus. The grunt and wheeze that followed told Kim exactly what she needed to know. _Not syntho-drones_. _They were just messing with me._ Kim glanced down at her wristwatch. _I so don't have time for this,_ she groused. At times like these Kim usually relied Ron Stoppable to distract the bad guys while she did what she had to do. Unfortunately for Kim, Ron wasn't there. She had to do this herself. No time for the usual theatrics, it was time to get down to business.

Kim dodged the henchmen as they came for her, and only took down the ones that got in her way. She was getting ever closer to the pedestal at the center of the room. A henchman came up on her right and threw a punch. Kim ducked, and the blow took out another henchman who was coming up on her left. Two more were blocking her path. She lunged forward into a handspring, coming to rest on one of the henchmen's shoulders. She jumped again, using the henchman as a springboard and knocking him down in the process. The last henchman she felled with a kick to the stomach. Her goal was in sight. Kim ran for the pedestal and quickly hit the red button in the middle. The simulation was over.

"Three minutes and twenty seven seconds," the agent running the drill said. "Cadet Agent Possible just beat her old record. Again."

Kim just grinned and brushed it off. "No big. You bust into enough secret lairs and this sort of thing becomes second nature."

Kim watched as the men in the syntho-drone suits staggered off towards the infirmary. Normally she'd feel bad, but they were the ones who thought the sight of a syntho-drone would make her stumble. They were just lucky they weren't wearing Erik masks; she might have been even more brutal. Kim glanced at her watch again. She had just enough time to get her review from the agent in charge and get back to her dorm room. She'd never been late for one of these video calls before and she wasn't going to start now.

After her review, which was nothing more than a "Good job, Possible," Kim took off. Fort Campbell, the Global Justice facility where she was stationed, stretched for miles in every direction in the Oregon wilderness, but Kim knew it like the back of her hand. She should know her way around; Kim had been there since late July and it was now early November. Even with other cadet agents milling about between classes and training exercises, she got to the living area in record time. Kim's destination was a large circular doorway with a horseshoe shaped emblem over it; the Greek letter Omega. Kim had the same letter on the right shoulder of her blue cadet's uniform. The number twelve under the letter identified Kim as a member of the Omega 12 Global Justice advanced training group. This accelerated training was codenamed Fast Track, and Kim had been recruited just a month after the Lorwardian invasion. Just her, Kim Possible. Not Ron Stoppable. That still had her tweaked.

Kim's dorm room was bigger than what she would have at a university, but it still seemed cramped. There were two beds, two desks, two computers, and a small fridge. The nice thing was the fact that she and her roommate had an adjoining bathroom. Although Kim had showered with her teammates on the cheer squad, she liked having a bit of privacy. When Kim entered the stark white room she was greeted by a young woman with shoulder length black hair wearing an identical uniform.

"Hiya, Roomie," she said in a cheerful tone. "How much did you shave off the record this time?"

Kim smirked. "Just a minute and a half. So not the drama, Lynn."

"Says you," Lynn Corrigable chuckled. She saw Kim sit at her computer and hurriedly turn it on. "That's right, it's Ron night, isn't it?"

Kim smiled. The first Friday of every month she was able to have a video call with Ron back in Middleton. Since he never heard anything from any of the colleges he applied to, Middleton Community College included, he decided to work full time at Smarty Mart and reapply for the spring semester. Ron hadn't even been considered for Fast Track, and he couldn't get into any schools. It was beyond not fair. Ron had saved both Kim and the rest of the world from a pair of nine foot tall alien invaders. He'd bested them in hand to hand combat, for crying out loud! That should have counted for something.

"If only Ron night was every night," Kim said in a sad voice.

"I wouldn't mind a little of that action, myself," Lynn mused.

Kim shot Lynn a dirty look. "Sorry, Corrigable, but he's all mine."

Lynn grabbed a few books off her bed and went for the door. "Just make sure you hold onto him, then. A cutie like that could get snapped up when you're not looking." With that, Lynn left for the library or wherever it was she was going.

That comment was the last thing Kim needed to hear. She liked the fact that her roommate had heard of Ron, but when Lynn's crush on him made itself known, the Green Eyed Monster in Kim resurfaced. It was worse than with Yori; at least Yori never went into detail about what she would do to Ron if she ever got him alone; Lynn was known to do that. _Ron loves you, Possible, _Kim told herself. _ Not Lynn, and not Yori. You. He went into space and accepted the mantle of Monkey Master to save you. So stop jealling. _"Yeah, easier said than done," she sighed.

A beep from the computer got Kim's attention. The webcams were on and connected. But instead of Ron, Kim was greeted by the sight of a one year old Japanese girl with a naked mole rat sitting on her head. "KP!" the child happily exclaimed.

Kim smiled. Hana Stoppable was the only person in the world besides Ron who could get away with calling her KP. "Hana you're getting so big," Kim gushed.

Hana reached out for the screen. "Miss you, KP. Brother miss you bad."

"I miss you, too, sweetie. Speaking of your brother, where's he hiding?"

"Right here, KP." Kim saw the familiar Smarty Mart vest come into view, and a large pair of hands gently lift Hana from the chair and put Rufus on the desk. "Hey buddy," Ron said to Rufus, "Mom says dinner's ready. Why don't you keep Kim company while I take Han downstairs?"

"Okay," the mole rat squeaked.

"Be right back, KP."

When Ron Stoppable returned, he had a happy yet exhausted look on his face. Kim heard from her 'rents that Ron had been putting in a lot of overtime since October. He'd only had two days off in the last month. "Sorry about that, KP. I got in later than I thought I would."

"It's okay, Ron. Just don't let it happen again." Kim took a good look at her BF. The freckles and big ears were as they should be, but those dark circles under Ron's eyes definitely had to go. The next thing that caught her attention was just below his bottom lip.

"Ron, what's that under your mouth?"

Ron rubbed the small blond square. "It's a soul patch, KP," he said in an excited tone.

"And you have one why?" Kim sounded almost annoyed.

"Well, y'see, after our last call I was running some errands for my mom." Ron's voice went from matter of fact to defeated. " When I was coming out the grocery store a cop stopped me and asked me why I was ditching school. He actually dragged me to Middleton High and into Barkin's office! It took Mr. B ten minutes to convince the guy that I'd graduated."

Kim smirked and cocked an eyebrow. "So you grew the fuzz to look older."

"Sure did, Kim! Did it work?"

"Not really."

"Awww." Ron looked crestfallen. "Well, do you at least like it? Cause of you don't I can totally shave it off!"

"I'll need to see it in person." Both Kim and Ron grew silent. "Were you working late again?"

"Yeah," Ron replied a bit uneasily. "I worked a fourteen hour day today instead of the usual twelve. There's some cold or flu plague thing going around so I had to cover for a few people."

Kim got a concerned look on her face. "I never thought I'd say this, Ron, but you're working too hard. All the hours you're putting in at Smarty Mart and the missions... Ron, if you're not careful you're going to burn yourself out."

A beep from the computer cut Ron off before he could answer. Time was almost up. "This is so tanks," Ron complained. "Twenty minutes isn't enough time."

Kim closed her eyes and sighed. "No it's not."

"You still coming home for Thanksgiving?" Ron asked. "Cause I have the day before off."

"Syntho-drones and monkey ninjas couldn't keep me away, Ron," Kim replied with a smile. "I'll be home that Wednesday, so you better make absolutely sure you have the day off. Because if you don't, not even the Mystical Monkey Power will save you from me!"

"I wouldn't dream of it, KP." Ron said with a wistful smile. "I guess I'll see you in a couple weeks then."

Kim looked away for a moment. "I love you," they said in unison.

"Jinx!" Kim immediately exclaimed. "You owe me some extra special Ron-shine when I get back." Her voice had taken on a sultry tone. "So no more overworking yourself. I want you in peak condition when I get home. We have some serious catching up to do."

Ron's normal lopsided grin became a devious one. "A-booyah." Since extra special Ron-shine replaced sodas as a prize, he stopped complaining when he lost a jinx.

"Wait till I get home and I'll give you something to 'booyah" about." With that, the connection automatically terminated and Kim slumped back in her chair. These video calls to Ron were among the high points of her month, along with the video calls to her family, but saying goodbye at the end was getting harder. Kim missed him more at the end of each call. If that was even possible.

Ron had slumped in his chair just as Kim did. Rufus looked up at his human with worry in his eyes. "I'm okay, buddy." Rufus, unconvinced, scampered onto Ron's shoulder and hugged his face. "Thanks, Rufus." Ron stood and sat the mole rat down on the desk. He thought about heading down for dinner, but he wasn't all that hungry. His mind was on something other than food, something he'd been thinking about since graduation. Ron shed his vest and made for the door. "Be right back, Rufus. The Rondo's got a mission!"

Less than ten minutes later Ron was at the Possible's front door. He had only been this nervous about ringing the doorbell once in the fourteen years he'd known Kim, and that was before the Moodulator date. He was a bit relieved when Anne Possible and not James answered the door.

"Hi, Ron," she said. "This is a pleasant surprise! Come in. What brings you by?"

"Actually, Mrs. Dr. P," Ron replied, tugging at his collar, "I came to talk to you and Mr. Dr. P."

As if on cue, James Possible came out of the living room. "What about, Ronald?"

Ron swallowed hard. "Well, it's about Kim. And... and me."


	2. Chapter 2

_Disney owns the characters, I'm just taking them for a test drive._

--

Team Possible missions just hadn't been the same since Kim left. It was just Ron and Rufus, and no one took them seriously. Ron tried not to take being passed over for Fast Track, the accelerated Global Justice training program, too personally, but it still hurt. But that wasn't all that was bothering him. Even after five months, Ron Stoppable was still coming to grips with the fact that two intelligent beings, totally evil though they were, met their ends at his hands. A trip to Yamanuchi and several long talks with Sensei shortly after Kim left for GJ had kind of helped to put his mind at ease, but it still bothered him. Ron knew that Warhok and Warmonga would have killed Kim and countless others had he done nothing. It was war, and they were casualties of that war. There were those who said the Lorwardians got what was coming to them. Ron wasn't so sure. They weren't the ones who had the Lorwardians' blood on their hands; Ron was.

But that was neither here nor there. "Head in the game, Ron," is what Kim would have said. But Kim wasn't there. It was just Ron and Rufus, with Wade Load guiding them through an underground tunnel in the Yucatan on Ron's own wrist communicator. Wade had called it a Ronnunicator, but Rufus insisted on calling it a Ronlink. The name stuck.

"You'll want to take the next left," the young super genius said. "That's where Dementor's hiding the new pan temporal vortex inducer."

"Yeah, you know, I'm surprised they upgraded that thing," Ron mused. "I mean, the old PDVI could create a black hole the size of Nevada, and this thing can do what?"

"Create a temporal vortex." Wade took a sip from his Slurpster. "And it can cross into alternate timelines."

Ron scratched his head. "Let's pretend that I don't know what that means."

Wade set his drink down. "It's a time machine generator. It can let someone go back in time and completely wipe out anyone or anything at any point in history."

"And people say _I'm_ dumb! I mean, who builds stuff like that?! Were they really that big on actually bombing something back to the Stone Age? I mean literally?"

Wade just shrugged his shoulders. "I guess they figured that completely unravelling the fabric of space/time is better than black holes the size of states."

"Over here," a small voice squeaked. Rufus, who had been scouting ahead, was scampering back. "Bad guy and big gun. Hurry!" Ron put on his serious face and followed the naked mole rat to the villain du jour.

Ron was dragging; he still hadn't had a day off and his hours had been getting longer. Where twelve hours a day had been the norm before, it had now grown to fifteen. What was worse, as soon as he was done with this little sojourn, it would be time to go back to work. Ron didn't know why he didn't just live at Smarty Mart since he spent practically his every waking moment there anyway. Before it was to pay for a new scooter so he wouldn't have to borrow his dad's car anymore. But now, after his "Ron to Fam Talk" with the Doctors Possible... well, no time to dwell on that now.

Rufus led Ron to the main staging area, a large cavern filled with scanners, TV screens, and in the center of the chamber was the PTVI in all its glory. It was the same size as its predecessor, the pan dimensional vortex inducer; a cylinder roughly the length of a grown man's forearm. Professor Dementor had installed the PTVI in a large ray gun housing that looked like something out of _Captain Constellation._ The gun was a good fifteen feet high with a ten foot long barrel that had a curved satellite dish for a tachyon emitter. On the back end of the TPVI cannon was the command console, currently manned by the helmeted madman Ron was after. It was show time.

Ron jumped down from the ledge and landed in a Tai Sheng Pek Kwar stance. "Helmet dude, you are goin' down!" Ron announced.

"Oh for the out loud crying," Dementor muttered. "WHY IS ZE BUFOON HERE?!" he bellowed. "Fraulein Possible is not here, so why is ze idiot zidekick here?"

A legion of henchmen suddenly came out of nowhere. Some were wielding stun staffs, others ray guns. They meant business. Ron's eyes turned blue as he tapped into the Mystical Monkey Power. _Not too much_, he thought. _Just enough to do this. _"Look, Napoleon," Ron taunted, "I don't have time for this. Just give back the pain temperate Volkswagen invader and we'll be out of your hair. That is, if you have any hair under that dome. Dude, is the helmet because you're going bald?"

"Yeah, baldy," Rufus added from his resting place in Ron's pocket.

"NEIN!! I have a full head of ze MANLY HAIR!!" Dementor shrieked. "GET ZE BUFFOON!"

The MMP gave Ron enhanced strength and reflexes. Not only that, but it seemed like Ron knew what his opponents would do almost before they did. It certainly came in handy, especially now as the henchmen rushed him. Arms were caught as punches were thrown, legs and feet were deflected, staffs knocked from the grips of their owners and broken, ray gun blasts were dodged before they were even fired. In what seemed like only a few seconds, all of Dementor's goons were on the ground in a moaning mass of pain.

"Vhat is das?" Dementor couldn't believe his eyes. He quickly scanned for a battle suit. "You have no self healing high stepping suit, so HOW ZE HELL DID YOU DEFEAT MEIN MINIONS!?"

"Dumb skill, dude. Now really, I don't have time for this. Just give up the thingamahickey and I'll be on my way." Ron's face became smug and his eyes glowed brighter. "Unless you want a piece of the Ron-man, that is."

Dementor's shoulders slumped. "Beaten by ze buffoon. How humiliating. I WILL NEVER ADMIT TO ZIS DEFEAT, ZIDEKICK!"

It was Ron's turn to slump. "Yeah, you and every other bad guy I've put away." No villain ever admitted to being defeated by Ron Stoppable. Indeed, none of them remembered his name. Not even the news media could get it right. Most of the time, he was simply referred to as "Kim Possible's junior sidekick." That vexed Ron, but not as bad as the anonymous insults he received almost daily from an online group called the Friends of Kim Possible. Kim was their hero and they wanted to see her save the world, not the buffoonish sidekick. Even though Kim posted an announcement on her website right before she left for Fort Campbell telling everyone exactly what was going on, the FoKP still took a lot of time out of their day to bust Ron's chops. Like it was Ron's fault that Kim was gone. Okay, so he did encourage her since it was something he knew she wanted to do, but still!

Global Justice was there in record time to pick up Dementor and his goons, and to return the PTVI to its rightful owners. Unfortunately for Ron, he had to deal with Will Du the whole time. There was only so much he could take being berated by the smug agent and being called an amateur. He especially didn't like Du telling him what he did wrong. Ron completed the mission successfully and ahead of schedule; what more did this guy want? Ron wished that he had used more of the MMP; if he had he'd probably be out like a light by now.

After the invasion Ron learned a secret of the Mystical Monkey Power that not even Monkey Fist knew; the power, like most things in life, comes with a price. After the graduation ceremony Ron came down from his MMP augmented adrenaline rush and crashed. Hard. He slept for over fifty seven hours straight. He barely woke up in time for the graduation party at the lake. "Even the strongest of us must know weakness," Sensei had told him. "You may have great power, Stoppable-san, but that power can be your undoing if you are not careful. Think of this as the power's way of keeping you humble."

Since then he'd only used as much of the power as was needed. Going full monkey would take too much out of him, and he was tired enough as it was. The last thing he needed was to be down for the count for days at a time; not with Kim coming home tomorrow. Kim. The thought of seeing her again gave Ron the strength to keep going. Even at Fort Campbell she was still Ron's inspiration.

--

Kim made her way from the lecture hall with a small stack of books in her arms. This was much more difficult than high school was, and she imagined it was probably a lot harder than college. She had classes in psychology, criminal justice, international law, international relations, diplomacy, and a slew of other subjects as well as an intense training regimen. Kim was in the best shape of her life and being challenged in more ways than she ever dreamed possible. Speaking of challenges...

"Hey there, Kimmie," a tall, blond man with a toned physique and his shoulder length hair pulled into a ponytail said as he sauntered up to her. "We still on for dinner tonight?" He draped his arm around Kim's shoulders, letting his hand hang dangerously close to her right breast. Kim quickly shrugged out of his embrace.

"We were never on for dinner, Rick," Kim hissed. Rick O'Shea was, unfortunately, one of Kim's Omega 12 teammates. "For the billionth time, I'm so not interested. I have a boyfriend back home, and even if I didn't, I wouldn't date you if you were the last guy on the face of the Earth. Besides, you know there are rules about fraternization in the ranks." Kim shot Rick a dirty look. "I could so report you for sexual harassment right now."

Rick reluctantly backed off. "No need to get so testy, Possible. You really need to defrost."

Kim let out a feral growl and stormed off.

"Rain check, then?" Rick called out behind her. Kim gave no indication that she heard him. "Oh yeah," he said. "I'm gonna hit that."

This exchange did not go unnoticed. Standing in one of the open doorways was a taller, bespectacled man with thinning salt and pepper hair. Chief Agent Marcus Mann was the commandant of Fort Campbell, the architect of Fast Track, the one who fought for funding and had to make more deals than he would care to admit, and the man who had made it his personal mission to get Kim Possible enrolled. There were those, Dr. Director among them, who thought they should wait to recruit her until after she graduated from college, but Mann wanted to get her in the field immediately if not sooner. That's why she was in this two year long accelerated program, although it was uncertain if she would sign on for the second year. Actually, it was uncertain if there would even be a second year. This was a new program, and even with all the deals and wrangling he'd done, funding was still an issue. No matter; he was certain that he would get her trained the right way. His way. In fact, there was no doubt in Mann's mind that Kim, with the proper guidance, would outshine Will Du.

O'Shea was also a good prospect. He was athletic and much smarter than he was given credit for, but his skirt chasing often led to more trouble that he was worth. Still, O'Shea was a better choice of mission partner than that Rob Portable kid. Or was it Dan Stackable? To Mann it didn't matter; he'd never even considered the sidekick for the program anyway, despite Dr. Director insisting that they needed the full Team Possible and not just Kim. In Mann's mind, the sidekick, whatever his name was, was expendable. It seemed that all he did was get in the way or lose his pants, and even if he did something right, it was usually by accident. Mann was sure that the stories about that kid singlehandedly defeating the Lorwardians in unarmed combat was the result of someone going into the chemical research lab without an air filter. Mystical Monkey Power? Get real.

It was best to concentrate on his current charges. O'Shea had the makings of a good agent, as did Kim, Lynn Corrigable, and Miles Walker, the other members of Omega 12. They just needed some fine tuning. Mann was sure that, under his guidance, Omega 12 would become the standard for all Global Justice field units and justify the strain Fast Track was putting on GJ's budget. If only he could get O'Shea to stop hitting on and antagonizing Possible...

--

In front of a bank of monitor screens in a dimly lit room he stood. It had been just ten months since he had been given a new lease on life, and he spent every moment coordinating the resources of his new benefactor, as well as plotting his own revenge; specifically revenge against Team Possible. They would suffer for what they did to him!

The super villain community was not the same as it once had been. Since helping to save the world from the Lorwardians and their subsequent pardons, Dr. Drakken and Shego had all but vanished from public life. As for the others, Monkey Fist was still a lump of rock that DNAmy was hauling around, and the Seniors had pretty much given up villainy, probably because of Junior's girlfriend. Gill was under lock and key to make sure his mutation wouldn't resurface, and Motor Ed was about as useful to him as a fouled spark plug. Adrena Lynn was still active, but she was no threat to anyone other than extreme sports enthusiasts. Only Duff Killigan, Camille Leon, and Professor Dementor were still in the game, and they had all been put away by Ron Stoppable.

Stoppable. Just the name was like nails down a chalkboard. How could that loser be a threat now? No matter. His plans were falling nicely into place. He looked at the schematics he had "borrowed" from the Hench Co mainframe and allowed himself a slight grin. All he had to do now was bide his time and wait. Both the loser and Kim Possible would get what they deserved. He had considered going after Drakken and Shego as well, but they had taken themselves out of the game. No, only Possible and Stoppable mattered. And that gross pink thing that always hitched a ride in Stoppable's pocket. He couldn't wait to crush that thing under his boot!

--

She may have been gone for only four months, but for Kim Possible it was an eternity. At long last Kim was on a GJ transport plane on her way back to Middleton. A huge smiled curled her lips. She was going home. She'd see her 'rents, the Tweebs, and finally see the fully rebuilt Possible homestead. Best of all, she'd see Ron again and actually be able to hold him in her arms, kiss him and... other things.

The last mission they went on before Kim had to leave for Oregon had been so the drama. Jack Hench decided to send his forces to steal as much of the Lorwardian tech as they could carry so his people could reverse engineer it. His first strike was at a Global Justice storage depot in Arizona. GJ's forces weren't up to the task, so Kim and Ron had been called in to save the day. In other words, business as usual.

Team Possible took the henchmen down, but it took a while, especially with Ron figuring out the limits of his powers. Since the mission went so long, Wade set Kim and Ron up in a nice suite at a local hotel. It had two beds, but they only needed the one. Kim knew that she should get some sleep to prepare for the next day's travel and orientation, but decided that making love to Ron would be much more satisfying. Besides, they wouldn't see each other again for four months; she had to get her extra special Ron-shine while the getting was good. Kim didn't even want to think about how it would be after the new year, when she would have to go six months without seeing the love of her life.

That was the worst part of Fast Track; it was a two year accelerated course with an option to get out after the first year. But it was a calendar year, not an academic one. She trained and studied six days a week. She did get major holidays off, but no extended vacations. Kim would be with her family for the Thanksgiving weekend, but would have to leave Sunday night. She wouldn't be back again until Christmas, and her next holiday after the new year would be the Fourth of July, which she would spend at the base. Kim would finally come home at the end of July provided she didn't enroll for the second year.

The plane's descent brought Kim out of her memories. The last thing she wanted to do now was think about anything even remotely related to Global Justice. They were coming in for a landing at a private airfield just outside Middleton. No baggage claim, no large crowds, just disembark and head home.

Kim saw a most welcome sight as she got off the plane; her 'rents and the Tweebs, who looked like they'd hit a growth spurt; Jim and Tim were almost as tall as Kim was. Kim rushed from the plane straight to the arms of her waiting family.

"Kimmie-Cub!" her father shouted.

"I've missed you guys so much," Kim said, melting into a huge family hug. Given the flurry of affection, Kim almost didn't notice a small pink body jump onto her shoulder.

"Kim home," Rufus cooed as he hugged her face. "Oh, missed Kim."

Kim smiled as she hugged the naked mole rat. "I've missed you too, Rufus." When Kim looked, up she saw the most welcome sight of all and her heart jumped. That mop of blond hair, the freckles, the big ears, and that ever present lopsided grin. And the soul patch. Kim reached for Ron's face and gently ran her thumb over the small square of blond fuzz. She couldn't help but smile. She really didn't like it, but as long as it was part of Ron's face, she could at least live with it.

No words were spoken. Kim flew into Ron's arms and pressed her lips to his with an almost inhuman speed. It may only be for a few days, but Kim Possible was finally home.


	3. Chapter 3

_Disney owns the characters, I'm just taking them for a test drive._

--

"KP!" No sooner had the sound reached her ears than Kim Possible found herself tackled to the floor by a giggling mass of super ninja baby. "KP home! Love you, KP."

Kim hugged Hana Stoppable as tightly as she could. "I love you, too, Hana." And she did. To Kim, Hana was as much her sister as she was Ron's.

"Now now, Hana," Dean Stoppable said as he pried his adopted daughter off of Kim. "Let Kim have some air."

Once Kim got to her feet again, she found herself in a warm embrace from Ron's mother. "Welcome home, Kimmie. We've all missed you."

"Same here, Mrs. Stoppable."

"Kim, after all this time I think it's okay for you to call me Dana."

Kim gave the Stoppable matriarch a funny look. "Okay... Dana," she said tentatively. This had gone beyond akweird. It was bad enough that Ron was now on a first name basis with her 'rents, but now Ron's 'rents wanted the same thing? Too freaky. When had that started anyway?

The rest of the day consisted of fawning over Hana, for that truly was good for the soul, a Bueno Nacho run and Kim's first chimerito since before the Lorwardian invasion, some quality time alone with Ron, and finally Anne Possible's famous (or was that infamous?) brain loaf dinner. After dinner, Kim got to relax in a hot bath; a luxury she didn't have at Fort Campbell. Oh yeah, life was good.

--

Kim was accustomed to weird, freaky, and sick and wrong, but one thing she never thought she'd have to deal with was the smirking blue visage of Dr. Drakken in the home of her boyfriend's parents.

"Now, Kim Possible," he gleefully bellowed, "I have you right where I want you and there's no way for you to escape! Now I will unleash my greatest, most foolproof plan ever!!"

Ron rolled his eyes. "Dude, you need to chill out. The whole over the top villain thing? Yeah, that's really bringing down the family holiday vibe."

"Greatest foolproof plan ever, huh?" Kim was unimpressed. "What is it this time?"

Drakken started wringing his hands maniacally. "Quite simply put, I'm going to make Team Possible the godparents of OUR BABY!!"

"Geez, Drew, could you me any more melodramatic? You're putting my brother to shame." Drakken, or Drew, was joined by a black haired woman with pale green skin, clad in a green shirt and black pants. Her right hand was resting on her swollen stomach.

"Nnnnggggggg," Drew moaned. "Sheila, haven't you ever heard of a little something called showmanship?"

Shortly after being pardoned for any and all crimes committed as Dr. Drakken and Shego, Drew Lipsky and Sheila Gordon made their way to Las Vegas to tie the knot with Kim and Ron in tow to act as witnesses. Unbeknownst to the newlyweds, they came home with a bun in the oven. If their criminal careers hadn't ended at the United Nations in June, this this would have done it. As Drew so succinctly put it, being honored by the UN had completely ruined his "villain cred," and there was no way they were going to endanger their baby with stupid take over the world schemes. Besides, the thought of being parents appealed to both of them more than they would have ever imagined. It even led to Drew Lipsky and James Possible finally making peace. Drew needed to get advice on being a dad from somewhere.

As for Sheila, she was happy for the break. Although she did miss fighting with Kim, Sheila knew that if any harm came to Kim at her hands, Ron would make her very, very sorry with minimal effort. She would just have to settle for sparring sessions after the baby was born. As for the thrill committing crimes had given her, she had found a way of doing it legally. Sheila started her own security consulting firm, and business was good. Who better to make sure a security system came keep out super villains than a retired super villain? Sheila still had her adrenaline rush, Drew had the respect he so desperately craved, and they were making an incredible living. Life had turned out well for the now ex villains.

"Godparents?" Kim's eyes lit up. "I'd be honored," she said quickly. "I mean, we'd be honored! Wouldn't we, Ron?"

"Coolio!" Ron yelled. He gently put his hand on Sheila's belly. "You hear that, little dude? I'm your godpoppa!"

Sheila shot Ron a look. "Call yourself that again, Stoppable, and you'll be on permanent poopy diaper duty!"

"Poopy diaper doody?" Ron mused. "Isn't that kinda redundant?"

It was Kim's turn to give Ron a look. "Shouldn't you be in the kitchen helping with dinner, Mr. Redundant?"

"Right. On it, KP!" If there was one thing Ron loved to do, it was cook. He was through the kitchen door faster than Kim could blink.

The Possibles and Stoppables had been sharing Thanksgiving dinner since Kim and Ron got together. This year it was held at the Stoppable house, mainly because it was already Hana proof. The Possible home had recently been rebuilt, and they had enough problems keeping the place standing with Jim and Tim's antics; the last thing they needed was Hana running amuck. This year the Lipskys had been invited. They could have had dinner with their former arch foes, dinner with an overbearing Mama Lipsky, or dinner at Go Tower with Sheila's constantly quarreling brothers. It was an obvious choice. Drew and Sheila doubted the other two choices would have resulted in such a delightful, delicious, and utterly painless evening. Besides, it gave the parents to be a chance to see the havoc a super powered baby was capable of. Needless to say, they hoped that Drew's new plant powers and Sheila's comet induced plasma powers didn't make it into the genetic shuffle.

--

The rest of the weekend went by way too fast for Kim's taste. Friday, while Ron was at work Kim, visited with Monique, who was home from the University of Upperton. For once they decided to forego any of the after Thanksgiving sales. Since Kim spent most of her time in a GJ cadet agent's uniform, she didn't have much need for fashion right now. Besides, anything she did buy would be out of date by the time she got home anyway. They did, however, get together for lunch at a new chain restaurant that had just opened up called Arthur's.

"So," her best girlfriend asked. "Are you staying in for the long haul, or are you coming back in July for good. I know Ron's MYLC."

"I've missed him like crazy, too," Kim replied. "And to answer your question, I don't know, Mon. Fast Track gets me out in the field faster, but the more I learn about Global Justice's rules and regulations, the more I appreciate being a free agent. Besides, I think the chief agent is trying to turn us into clones of Will Du." That made Kim shudder.

"So if you don't stay in, isn't it kind of a waste of your time?"

"No, they'll make it worth my while." Kim took a drink from her soda. "One year in Fast Track satisfies all lower and upper division core general education requirements at any four year university in the world. I'd be enrolling as a junior wherever I decide to go."

"Nice," Monique said with a grin. She took a good look at her friend, who seemed a bit distracted. "Can I ask you something? If you miss Ron so bad, why'd you leave in the first place?"

Kim took a deep breath. She'd been asking herself that same question for a while now. "Leaving Ron here was the hardest thing I've ever done," she finally said. "I wouldn't have done it if he hadn't encouraged me."

"Ron encouraged you?" Monique couldn't hide her shock. "Mister 'I Can't Live Without You?' Girl, that boy of yours is really tough to figure out sometimes."

"You're telling me? Haven't you noticed how he hasn't complained about me being gone even once?" Monique nodded in the affirmative. "That's why. He knew that I've wanted to work with GJ since we found out about them. This was my chance and he wasn't going to hold me back. Ron said that me being happy was more important than his feelings." Kim's closed her eyes for a moment. "He let me go to chase my dreams."

"You're GT, aren't you?" Monique asked.

"I've gone four months without the Monique Speak. Could we stick to English please?"

"You're guilt tripping," Monique explained. "Like you said, Ron let you go to chase your dreams, and you feel bad because he didn't get to do the same. You're living the exciting life of a GJ cadet agent, and he's just the Smarty Mart employee of the month."

Kim gave her friend a weak smile and turned her attention back to her previously forgotten club sandwich. That silence told Monique that she'd hit the nail squarely on the head.

--

He was starting to see why this particular weapon never made it passed the initial prototype; while the construction of the basic support structure was simple, as was the means of focusing the beam on a specific target, the nature of the weapon itself was well outside of the expertise of those Jack Hench kept on staff. Considering the high caliber of scientists and technicians Hench had working for him, that was really saying something. So the project had been abandoned, which was probably why those files were so easy to hack into.

"You'd think a company that made the Attitudinator could figure out a synaptic destabilizer," he grumbled. The figure sat back in his chair. Staring at schematics for hours on end wasn't going to make this any easier. If the premier marketer of villain tech didn't have the needed materials and know how to build this thing, maybe it was time to branch out into other fields. He knew that Omni-Tech didn't have what he needed, but perhaps they could point him in the right direction.

--

After lunch, Kim spent over an hour catching up with Wade who, like her brothers, was as tall as she was now. "I guess the Tweebs aren't the only ones who hit growth spurts," she observed.

Wade updated her on the missions, and on all super villain activity, or lack thereof. Ron had been doing a fine job on is own so far, despite what an internet group called the Friends of Kim Possible said in their blogs. The only troubling thing that Wade had to report was the theft of a prototype nanotronium power cell from a tech firm in Go City called Omni-Tech. Ironically, the CEO of that company was the father of Kim's Omega 12 teammate and all around pain in the neck Rick O'Shea. The robbery was so professional that no one knew about it until weeks later when someone bothered to take an inventory of the storeroom. It had to be an inside job, but there was no evidence of anything. As always, Wade was on it and would keep them posted.

That evening, the elder Stoppables decided to go out to dinner. They left Hana and Rufus with the Possibles, leaving their abode in the capable hands of their son and his girlfriend. This gave Kim the opportunity to sample that which she had not had in over four months; one of Ron's home cooked culinary masterpieces. Her guy went all out this time; a candlelit dinner of his new five cheese lasagna, with garlic bread and a garden salad. Ron had been experimenting with this dish for weeks, trying to find the right combination of cheeses for the lasagna itself, and fresh herbs for his homemade sauce. In the opinion of Kim's taste buds, it was a resounding success.

Kim, after finishing an almost unheard of third helping, settled back in her chair at the dinner table and sighed in contentment. "Please tell me you made extra so I can take some back to Fort Campbell with me," she said. "That was ferociously amazing."

Ron went to the fridge and pulled out a large microwavable container. "Anything for my lady," he happily said. "I can't imagine GJ's food is nearly as good as anything my mad cooking skills can whip up."

Kim couldn't help but chuckle. Ron had a tendency to get big headed about things he was good at, but in the case of his cooking, Kim felt he was justified. "It's not mystery meat bad, but it's nowhere near your level." Kim stood up and sauntered over to her BF. "Besides, at Fort Campbell I can't have the chef for desert." Kim kissed Ron with an intensity that could melt reinforced steel. The jinx from their last video call had already been paid in full, now they were making up for lost time.

"Kids, we're home!" And in an instant, the mood was utterly destroyed. Kim pulled back and let her forehead rest on Ron's shoulder.

"Sorry, Kim," he muttered. "Guess I lost track of the time."

"No big," she replied. "I lost track of the time, too."

Dean Stoppable walked into the dining room with Rufus on his shoulder and Hana in his arms. Hana practically launched herself at Kim. "KP!" she happily shrieked.

"It looks like Kim has Hana watch," Dean chuckled as he headed for the stairs.

"Looks like it." Kim gave Ron a smile. "I'll be out in the living room. Come on, Han. Time for a little female bonding" As Kim walked away, Rufus jumped on the kitchen counter to help Ron clean up the mess from dinner. Of course, the naked mole rat's idea of helping was lapping up any and all leftover cheese from the plates and pots. While the boys were cleaning up, Kim was reading to Hana from the youngest Stoppable's new Flippies book.

"Sister," Hana said out of the blue. Kim was too shocked to respond immediately, so Hana said it again. "Sister." She reached up and touched Kim's cheek, much like she had done to Ron at Yamanuchi shortly before her showdown with the Yono. "Ron brother, KP sister."

Kim gathered the little girl up into a huge hug. "From the mouths of babes," she said. "Oh, Hana, I would love to be your big sister. Just between you and me, if Ron ever offers me the job, I'll take it in a heartbeat." Kim looked Hana in the eyes. "You know, this is the Twenty First Century. Why should I wait for him to ask? I could just ask him. What do you think, Han?"

"Sister," was Hana's happy reply. She then grabbed the book again and started turning pages. After finishing the dishes, Ron joined his two favorite ladies on the couch and read to Hana until she fell asleep in her would be big sister's arms.

--

Saturday night was supposed to be one of their classic dates; Bueno Nacho, a movie, and a half hour of Ron trying to get a prize out of the claw machine at the Middleton Mall. A call from Wade on the Kimmunicator in the Sloth put an end to that real quick. "There's a break in at the Upperton Automotive Museum," he said.

Kim cocked an eyebrow. "Didn't know there was one."

"Maybe we need to get one of those alma matters of the Tri-City area," Ron mused.

"I think you mean almanac, Ron."

"Yeah, that too."

They were bantering like no time at all had passed. "Well, Ron, feel like getting the band back together?"

"I can sum that up in two words, KP; 'boo' and 'ya.'"

--

"Okay, boys," the mullet wearing miscreant said. "It should be in the next showroom. Seriously." Motor Ed and his crew were like kids in a candy store. The Automotive Museum had classic cars from all eras. It was all Ed could do to keep his eyes on the prize, especially when they came to the Model T exhibit. Onward the grease monkeys continued, all the while drooling over the works of automotive art until finally they came to their destination. Their four wheeled treasure was theirs for the taking, or so they thought.

"The museum's hours are ten to six, Monday through Friday," Kim said nonchalantly. "You boys will just have to come back tomorrow." For the first time in four months Kim was again wearing her purple and black mission gear, and it felt good.

"Aw man," Motor Ed groused. "Red's back. I thought you like, retired or something. Seriously."

"Sorry, dude," Ron chimed in. "My lady's been learning some badical new ways of dealing out the hurt to creeps like you." He dropped into a defensive stance. "Or you could just take me on again. Remember the car show last month?"

Motor Ed's face took on a monstrous scowl. "I still owe you for that, skinny dude. Seriously. It's not cool to break another dude's wrench like that."

Kim heard about this story. Motor Ed had souped up his impact wrench to fire blasts of compressed air like a cannon. Ron intentionally broke it with his bare hands right before capturing Ed with a stack of tires. It was a move right out of the cartoons, as well as another successful mission Ron got no credit for.

Kim assumed her own defensive stance. "Look, Squirrel Head, your bad timing interrupted our date and we'd like to get back to it. How about you forget what you were going to steal and hit the road."

"No way, Red. I came for that Roth SL coupe, and I'm gonna take it. Seriously."

For the first time, Team Possible noticed what car they were standing in front of. Aside from the fact that it was in pristine condition, and that it was pea soup green, it looked exactly like Kim's Sloth did when her dad first gave it to her.

"Take 'em out, boys! Yeaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!" As Ed hit the air guitar, his goons launched into action. It was as if Team Possible's default setting had been somewhat restored. Ron distracted Ed's cronies, leaving Kim free to take down the mad mechanic. Of course now, instead of using his mad running away skills, Ron was holding his own. He wasn't even tapping into the Mystical Monkey Power to do it. Five gear heads were easy compared to a legion of henchmen.

Kim, meanwhile, was dodging Ed's attempts to club her with a tire iron. "Hold still so I can pound you," he complained. "Seriously." He lunged at her with all his strength. Kim grabbed hold of Ed's improvised weapon, rolled onto her back, and kicked her feet into Ed's chest. Then, using Ed's momentum, Kim hurled him head first into one of the support pillars in the exhibition hall.

A groggy Motor Ed pulled himself to his feet. Ron, with a cry of "Heads up!" sent two of Ed' goons flying at him. The next thing Ed knew he was buried under a pile of his own men in front of a 1969 Opel GT; a full fifteen feet from where he hit the pillar.

"This really sucks," he groaned.

"Seriously," Kim and Ron added.

A short time later, the Upperton PD came to take Ed and his crew into custody.

"Okay, Mullet Brain," Kim sneered while he was being loaded into the paddy wagon. "Mind telling us what you wanted a Sloth for? You had to know about the recall."

"That recall was bogus. Seriously it was. Any car that can launch its own drive shaft at highway speeds is my kind of ride. Seriously."

"But without the drive shaft, isn't it, I don't know, kinda useless?" Ron asked.

"Check it, dude, this is my awesome plan. Take a Roth and totally trick it out. Rocket engines in the trunk, make it drive under water, and maybe even give it a sweet convertible mode so I can go cruising for chicks. Seriously, dude, it woulda rocked!"

Kim had to stifle a laugh. "You do realize that my brothers beat you to it, right?" The look of shocked confusion on Ed's face told Kim the answer was a resounding no.

"That's right, dude," Ron happily added. "They did that last year. Didn't you notice that's what we've been driving around in this whole time?"

"Those look-a-like ankle biters stole my idea?"

"Technically, you stole theirs," Kim said.

--

As with all good things, Kim's visit had to come to an end. Before anyone knew it, it was Sunday evening. It was time for Kim to leave. There were tears, hugs and kisses. Kim was sure this was worse than when she left the first time. _And I'm gonna have to do this again in January? This is so not right. _It was certainly worse than saying goodbye to Ron during a video call. Although the upside was she could actually touch him now.

Ron held Kim tightly as he kissed her goodbye. Four months was a long time to be separated, and neither of them were looking forward to the six month drought they would face after the new year. Finally they pulled apart, and brown eyes gazed into green. Those eyes said more than any words could, but they said it anyway.

"I love you." It was declared in unison, but neither of them called a jinx. After finally forcing herself away from Ron, Kim silently boarded the plane and watched as her family made their way to the parking lot. Ron remained for a moment, but finally followed. Kim closed her eyes and sighed. She wasn't sure if she could do this for another year, let alone the seven months she had left.

Ron walked in silence back to the Possible's mini van. James Possible walked up to Ron put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Come on, son. Time to go home."

"Yeah," Ron said. "Home."


	4. Chapter 4

_Disney owns the characters, I'm just taking them for a test drive._

--

Anyone who looked at Ron Stoppable could tell he wasn't doing well. The so called "Stoppable Fortress of Immunity" had finally fallen to whatever viral scourge had been targeting his fellow Smarty Mart employees since late October. He ached. In fact, Ron hurt so bad that he swore he'd gone twelve rounds with Shego. He was perpetually cold, and he didn't even want to think about the disgusting mucus he'd been coughing up. Whatever he had, he had a really bad case of it. What Ron didn't have was the luxury of calling in sick. He was still covering for sick people, although in this case Ron was sure they weren't nearly as sick as he was. But he knew that getting someone to cover for him would be like pulling teeth, so he didn't even bother trying. So now Ron was almost a one man pet department, working fifteen hours a day, seven days a week, and to top it all off, was still hunting for a thief.

First there was a nanotronium power cell that was stolen from Omni-Tech, then a parabolic beam focusing mirror array was swiped from the Middleton Space Center. Wade couldn't be sure, but he suspected that the thefts of twenty sheets of light weight flexi-steel, a dozen reinforced support struts, and various other building and shielding materials were all related. "I'll get back to you when I know more," he told Ron. So now it was time to play the waiting game. While Ron waited, he worked.

He still didn't have wheels of his own yet. The heavy snows that had beset Middleton would have made riding a scooter to and from work a bad idea anyway, so he was still using his dad's car. Except today, that is. Dean Stoppable had to take the car in for a tune up, so he dropped Ron off at the store at 7:00 am, and would pick him up when Ron's shift was over at 10:30 pm. At least, that was the plan. It was now 11:15 pm, and Ron's dad still hadn't shown up yet. He called the house and got the answering machine. Ron would have called his dad's cell, but Dean thought cell phones were a fad; neither he nor Dana had one.

Ron looked down at Rufus, who was bundled up in Ron's pocket. "Well, buddy, looks like this is Dad's way of telling me that it will be our honor to walk."

"Brrrr. Too cold," Rufus squeaked.

"No choice, Rufus. No one's home and I don't have the Claude on me for cab fare." Ron pulled his coat tighter around himself, and headed off into the bleak cold of a Colorado December. "This so tanks more than anything in the history of tankage has ever tanked before," Ron grumbled.

--

The room was silent, except for the sound of the wind howling just outside. Kim Possible looked at her teammate Rick O'Shea with disgust. They had been on a cold weather training mission in the Sierra Nevadas. Omega 12 had been split into two teams; Kim and Rick on one, Lynn Corrigable and Miles Walker on the other. Rick had been put in charge of Kim's team. That was mistake number two. Mistake number one had been putting Kim on a team with Rick in the first place. Kim was there to learn and train; Rick, it seemed, was there to score with every woman at Fort Campbell; students and faculty alike. He was already on report for hitting on several female instructors.

Kim had to admit to being a little impressed. Rick had set up this cabin days in advance. It was fully stocked with enough food, water, and firewood for at least a week. He even made sure there was plenty of gas for the generator. The only thing it didn't have was warm, dry clothes. _All this just to get me alone,_ she thought. _Impressive in a gorchy and totally sick and wrong sort of way. _They had been holed up in this pleasant prison since before nightfall. Kim's emergency beacon was activated, and she'd been in contact with the Global Justice base in the area, but the near blizzard conditions were delaying any rescue attempts. Kim was stuck there with Rick. Overnight. With only one bed. _No, this is wrong-sick. Worse than DNAmy and Monkey Fist wrong-sick._

Rick had insisted that they didn't need their cold suits, special garments that were insulated, water proof, and self heating. He also insisted on ignoring the map and following his own trail. Kim went with him to make sure he didn't get himself killed. On cue, Rick fell through the thin ice on the edge of a frozen pond. Kim had to jump in and fish him out. Rick hadn't worn his cold suit and was in danger of freezing to death, but was still able to direct her to this particular cabin. Now he was sitting in front of the wood burning stove, wrapped in as thick a blanket as Kim could find and shivering violently. His drenched arctic camouflage uniform was hanging on a hook on the bathroom door.

Kim, on the other hand, was perfectly dry. Unlike her so called "team leader," she wore her cold suit; the freezing cold water never touched her skin or chilled her to the bone. No, the only icy cold thing about Kim Possible was the look she was giving Rick right now. He finally broke the silence. "I thought I told you that you didn't need that." He pointed at Kim's cold suit, which was also colored in arctic camouflage.

"Like I'm going to go out in the snow without protection. So not going to happen." Kim flopped into an easy chair by the stove. "You mind telling me exactly what the hell you were thinking? Like, how you knew that this cabin was here and that it had plenty of food."

"Lucky guess," Rick said in as macho a voice as a shivering man can muster.

"So not buying it. I know a set up when I see it, O'Shea." Kim rubbed her temples. She had gotten more headaches dealing with Rick these last five months than she had in all her nineteen years. "So what's the sitch? Or was this just some elaborate plot to get me alone and naked?" O'Shea flinched. "Looks like I answered my own question."

"It's an emergency cabin, okay? I saw it on one of the maps and went looking for it." This wasn't going anything like he had planned. Fall through the ice, find cabin, shed wet clothes, cuddle under blanket, get busy. Was that so difficult? But no, Kim just had to go and disobey his direct order and wear that damn cold suit! But still, if he could bag Kim Possible, well, the ramifications for his reputation were mind boggling! Too bad she refused to get with the program.

"People get really funny ideas about me," Kim said, almost to herself. "Some people take a look at the crop tops I used to wear and think I'm some kind of ravenous slut who'll jump anything with two legs and a pulse."

_I'd love to see that,_ Rick thought.

"Then there are those people who think I'm some ultimate good girl who needs to be taught to let go of her inhibitions." She shot a death glare at Rick. "And there there people like you. What was it you told me I needed to do a couple weeks ago? Defrost? I guess getting the 'ice queen' to fall through the ice and then getting into her pants was some kind of too wrong for words attempt at poetic justice for you, wasn't it?" Kim leaned down and looked right into Rick's blue eyes. "Just because I won't cheat on my boyfriend doesn't make me an ice queen. Got that?"

"He'd never have to know, Kimmie," Rick, who was obviously incapable of quitting while he was ahead, sneered. "One trip around the world with me, and you'll forget all about that loser."

"He is _NOT A LOSER!" _Kim practically screamed. "Ron's more of a man than you'll ever be."

"Yeah right," Rick snorted. "I'll bet he's too wussy to go for second base."

Kim threw herself back into the chair. She really didn't want to be in any kind of close proximity to that shivering bundle if infuriating aggravation. "Not that it's any of your damn business, O'Shea, but Ron's been hitting home runs since our halfiversary." _Technically, the week after when I got my memory back, but it's not like Rick needs to know that._ "And you know what else? He made the first move. Still think he's a wuss?"

Rick's eyes were as big as hubcaps. He was convinced that Ice Queen Possible would never put out for anyone until he melted her defenses, but the loser beat him to it?

"Let's get something straight right now." Kim's voice was cold and laced with a need to cause Rick severe bodily harm. "I. Don't. Like you. Like I've said I don't know how many times, I have a boyfriend. And I love him more than anyone or anything else in the world. As a matter of fact, he's the only man I've _EVER _loved. He's stood by me nearly my whole life. He's faced his fears to help me on missions. He went into space to save me from alien invaders, and he," Kim fought to keep calm. "And he was willing to let me go so I could do this; so I could learn how to help people better. Even though he was passed over, like everyone always passes him over for everything because they're too _STUPID_ to see how strong he really is! And he's waiting for me back in Middleton. Would you wait for your girlfriend if there was the possibility that she'd be gone for two years?" No answer. "That's what I thought."

"Now what?" Rick wasn't ready to let his plan go just yet. Maybe when she calmed down she'd be more receptive. After all, no one could resist the O'Shea Charm. "I mean, it's getting late. We should try to get some sleep." He couldn't keep the suggestive tone from his voice as he eyed the lone bed.

"Knock yourself out," Kim said offhandedly. "And I mean that literally. I think there's a cast iron skillet in the kitchen." Images of Ron brandishing said cooking utensil as a weapon danced in her mind. Or even better, turning the Lotus Blade into a frying pan and beating Rick senseless with it. A predatory grin crossed her lips. "As for me, I'm not sleeping. Someone needs to keep watch in case GJ can get through the storm. I've got first watch. Actually I've got all watches."

"You can't stay awake all night."

"Check my rep, O'Shea," Kim said with her usual flare. "I can do anything."

Rick got a little too excited. "Anything?"

"Including repeatedly shooting you down." Her tone again became hostile. "Remember, I know sixteen forms of Kung Fu. And I've learned some Tai Sheng Pek Kwar from the master." _Thank you_ _Ron for having my back even when you're not here._ "If you come anywhere near me I swear I will so kick your ass into next year. Got that?" Rick only nodded as he slunk off to bed.

--

It was 12:30 in the morning when Ron dragged his tired, cold, and wet carcass through the Stoppable's front door. Normally he'd go into freak out mode when his parents pulled stunts like this, but not this time. He just didn't have it in him to freak, but he did want to give his 'rents a piece of his mind. His mom's car was in the driveway and the living room light was on, so he knew his time was now.

"Is that you, Ronnie?" He responded with a well timed coughing fit that nearly doubled him over and left a very disgusting wad of brown phlegm in his handkerchief. "Ronnie you don't look so good."

"Ya think?" He didn't even bother to keep the hostility out of his voice. Even Rufus, who had come out of the nest he'd built in Ron's pocket was chattering angrily. Ron looked like the walking dead. He was deathly pale with black circles under his eyes. Despite how cold he was, he was sweating profusely. "I suppose flaking on me was your way of telling me that you had something more important to do than pick your obviously sick son up from work, and thus making him walk home in a snowstorm!" Okay, so he was freaking a little, but he was entitled.

"Now, Ronald," his father said from the couch." I'm sure you could have gotten a ride from one of your friends at work, or have Wade set one up if you really needed one."

"If I really needed one? Do you people even hear yourselves?" Ron collapsed in a heap at the foot of the stairs. "Most of my friends at work were off ten hours ago and have to be in at like, six in the morning. Calling them would be almost as bad as all your 'this is our way of telling you' crap. As for the Wade thingie, I might need one of those favors for, I don't know, a real mission!"

"It's not my fault I had a last minute actuarial dinner tonight," Dean snapped. "As it was we had to take your sister with us!" It was the first time since the Mathter's lair that Ron had heard anger in his father's voice.

"A phone call, Dad! A simple phone call. But no! You don't have enough respect for me to do even that!" Ron fought to stand up and struggled up the stairs.

"Where are you going?" his mother demanded.

"To take a hot shower, to check bus schedules online since I obviously can't trust you for rides, and then I'm going to bed. I have an early day tomorrow. Good night!" With that he left his parents alone.

--

The weather had mercy on Kim and lightened up enough for a search team to reach the cabin. They had only been trapped there for about nine hours, but to Kim it felt like ninety years. Best of all, she would be able to get some sleep without Rick breathing down her neck. It was nearly dawn when Kim returned to her bunk after filing her full report on what happened; emphasis on _FULL._ She was asleep before her head hit the pillow. She would need her rest; she had a meeting with Agent Jaqueline Knife, who ran the survival training, at 1130 hours. After that it was back to Fort Campbell in Oregon where she would meet with Chief Agent Mann. Kim hoped that, after this fiasco, Rick O'Shea would finally be drummed out of Fast Track.

--

Ron woke up feeling like he was in a meat locker, despite the heavy blankets he was currently wrapped up in. After a few futile swipes at his nightstand, he finally got the alarm turned off. "Hey, Rufus," he croaked. "Get me the phone, would you? I don't think I'm going to work today. I don't care if they find someone to cover for me or not." Rufus was more than happy to comply. His person had been working way too hard and he needed a break. And some cheese. Cheese made everything better.

Fifteen minutes later Ron came downstairs looking like one the zombies he and Felix Renton would spend hours obliterating. Just as he guessed, his mom was already gone, leaving no cars in the driveway. How Ron rued the day the wheel cylinders in his dad's car went bad. A simple oil change and tune up turned into a whole lot of expensive work. Again, Ron went for the phone. He dreaded making this phone call, but he knew he had no choice. "Hey, Anne," he said when Kim's mom picked up the line. "I need a huge favor."

--

"Probation." The word festered in Kim's mind like an open sore.

"Bradley O'Shea has contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to this program," Chief Agent Marcus Mann said. "As you know, our budget is tight as it is. You wouldn't believe the lengths I've had to go to just to get Fast Track off the ground! If Cadet Agent O'Shea goes, his father might take the money with him. And right now, we need it." Mann pulled his glasses off and set them on his desk. "Besides, Mr. O'Shea is the CEO of Omni-Tech, and they designed almost all of our gear. The cold suit that saved you from freezing to death was one of their toys. You should be grateful."

"This is so wrong, sir," Kim hissed. "He's been harassing almost every woman here. He risked his life and mine just to try to seduce me."

"I know, Cadet Agent Possible," Mann sighed. "If he trips up one more time, he's out. But not before."

Kim was fuming. "Permission to speak freely?" Mann nodded his consent. "If it was me, or anyone else whose father wasn't a contributor or a contractor, we'd have been out of here a long time ago. I doubt there would be this kind of drama if my dad threatened to pull the plug on Middleton Space Center's contract to build and launch your communications satellites. This is such favoritism."

"That will be all, Possible. Dismissed."

Kim couldn't keep from mentally ranting the entire walk back to her dorm. Out of the corner of her eye she saw an African American man who was a head taller than she was coming towards her. "Hey, Kim! Hold up."

"Not now, Miles," she said to Miles Walker, another Omega 12 teammate and, unfortunately for him, Rick O'Shea's roommate. "I have a video call with my parents in like, ten minutes."

"No worries," he said in an even tone. "I'll keep it short. Look, if I knew what he was planning-"

Kim held up her hand. "I don't blame you, Miles. I know you would have warned me."

"Damn right," he said proudly. "I'm no Ron Stoppable, but I do have your back. So does Lynn." He put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Don't mess with Omega 12."

"Cause we'll mess you up right back," she said, finishing their team's unofficial motto. There was something about Miles Walker that made it impossible to stay mad.

"Go talk to your folks, Kim. I'll see you tomorrow morning in the mess hall for breakfast."

Kim was in a much better mood when she got to her dorm. Lynn Corrigable had turned on Kim's computer and made sure the connections were up before Kim even got there. She even left without her usual banter. The look on Anne Posible's face when Kim sat down threatened to shatter that mood.

"Mom, what is it?"

"It's Ron, honey," Anne said. "He's in the hospital."


	5. Chapter 5

_Disney owns the characters, I'm just taking them for a test drive._

--

Dr. Anne Possible felt like she was about to lecture her twin sons about attempting to launch the garage into a trans-lunar insertion trajectory. Again. She could have dealt with that since she did it so often, but no, she was about to have words with two grown adults, who she had known for the better part of fourteen years, about their questionable parenting skills. Anne took a deep breath and looked Dean and Dana Stoppable dead in the eyes. "You know, I don't even know where to start," she finally said. "Ron's going to be fine, and I know this all stems from him not taking better care of himself, but making your own son walk home in the dead of the night in the snow did not help things. This may be the Twenty First Century, but pneumonia can still be deadly."

"Anne," Dana started to say.

"I'm not done yet," Anne snapped. "Now I know that I'm no candidate for mother of the year. You would not believe how many people thought Kim and the boys should have been taken away from James and me because we let our teenage daughter go all over the world taking on despots and super villains. But when it comes to the health of my children, and I include Ron in that, I don't take chances. The only reason I didn't get after Ron about his health sooner is because the last time I saw him he was fine. If I had known how sick he was you can bet your bottom dollar I would have stepped in and dragged that boy to the hospital myself!"

"Ronald's a grown adult, Anne," Dean finally said. "He can take care of himself. And like I told him when he got home the other night, if he really needed a ride, he could have found one."

Anne sat down and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Ron once told me that he would not be a bit surprised if a for sale sign in front of your house would be your way of telling him that you were moving. I thought he was being melodramatic. Now, I'm not so sure. 11:30 at night is a bit late to be calling around asking for a ride, Dean, although had he called us, either James or I would have been happy to do it. And when I told him this he said he didn't want to impose on us. The fact remains that you knew he was sick. He was running a fever of a hundred and two when I took him to the emergency room, and you made him walk home in the snow."

"We didn't know Ronnie was that sick," Dana said in a defeated voice.

--

"No cream, one sugar," Dr. Betty Director said as she handed the steaming coffee mug to Kim Possible. She then proceeded to sit down at the head of the long rectangular table in one of Fort Campbell's conference rooms. "I've read your report regarding what happened in the Sierra Nevadas with Cadet Agent O'Shea. Is there anything else you want to add?"

Kim took a sip of her coffee. "Just that I think he's getting away with murder."

Dr. Director took a drink from her own mug. "Unfortunately, there's nothing I can do about that. Global Justice is a bureaucracy. I'd have to go through about fifteen different subcommittees just to get a meeting set up to discuss O'Shea's status. By the time all is said and done, you'd both be full agents. I'm afraid I can't help you."

Kim tried to hide her disappointment. "Thanks anyway."

"Look, Kim," Dr. Director set her mug down. "I've made no secret of the fact that I think this program is a waste of not only your talents, but of GJ resources. If you decide to get out after the first year is over, I wouldn't blame you. I think GJ needs the full Team Possible, not just you. I'd rather recruit both you and Ron once you've finished college than put you out there at half strength." That brought a genuine smile to Kim's face. "How's Ron doing, anyway?"

Kim's smile faded. "He has pneumonia. My mom had to take him to the emergency room yesterday morning. He's been working more overtime than he should, he got sick, and he didn't take care of himself. He and I are so going to have a nice long talk about this over Christmas." Kim took another sip of coffee.

Dr. Director nodded. That answered the question of how he was physically. "And how is he doing mentally?" Dr. Director knew from first hand experience what effect taking a life can have.

Kim sighed. "He hasn't mentioned any more nightmares, so I guess he's getting better." The last nightmare she knew for a fact he'd had was that last night in July they spent together. Ron had woken up screaming. It took Kim the better part of an hour and a half to try to calm him down and convince him that everything was all right and that he had done what he had to do with the Lorwardians. But that wasn't the only thing that was bothering him and Kim knew it. "Then there's the college front," she said. "Even though Ron hasn't said anything, I know the fact that he still hasn't heard from any of the schools he applied to is getting to him."

Dr. Director closed her eye and took a breath. She had been dreading telling Kim about this. "I'm afraid he's not going to hear from them." She looked up and saw Kim's confused look. "I just found out about this earlier this morning, and I am beyond infuriated. Chief Agent Mann had his people contact any and all schools Ron applied to. They made sure he wouldn't receive any correspondence. Mann's people even got the football scouts to leave Ron alone."

"Football scouts?" Kim was more confused now. "No schools scouted Ron."

"Yes they did, Kim. I know for a fact that UCLA was very interested in Ron and did try to scout him," Dr. Director said. "So did Duke and Notre Dame. Hell, even the Denver Broncos and the San Francisco 49ers were interested in recruiting him right out of high school. With his rushing and evading skills that boy could have had an NFL career if he'd wanted it."

"Then why-"

"Because Agent Mann wanted you in the program, and he thought that you'd be more inclined to sign up if Ron wasn't going to college. Mann was convinced that you two would try to go to the same school if you could."

Kim took a deep breath to try to stay calm. "I would have tried to go to the same school as Ron."

"He was accepted to the same schools overseas as you were," Dr. Director said. "Agent Mann convinced them not to send out any correspondence whatsoever to Ron. No acceptance letters, no rejection letters, not even so much as 'go away kid, you bother me.' You'd better believe that there's going to be hell to pay about this. Global Justice is not in the business of destroying a person's future just so we can get his significant other on the payroll."

Kim's temper was starting to get the better of her. "That son of a -"

"Kim, you need to calm down."

"Calm down?!" Kim was furious. "I just found out that my boyfriend's future got flushed down the toilet because of me and you want me to calm down!?"

"That's an order, Cadet Agent," Dr. Director said firmly. "There are probably two things going through your head right now; going and getting your pound of flesh from Chief Agent Mann, or leaving Fort Campbell and Global Justice far behind as soon as this meeting is over. Both of those options will land you behind bars. You don't need assaulting a superior officer or going AWOL on your records. Trust me, Mann's not worth the prison sentence."

Kim sighed and nodded. "Is there anything you can do about this?"

Dr. Director lowered her head. "The damage is already done. I'd throw Mann out on his ass, but he's got friends in high places. He went over my head to get this waste of money off the ground by going to his friends in the UN." _Despite the fact that he was under investigation,_ Dr. Director thought to herself. "Like I said before, Global Justice is a bureaucracy. I may be in charge, but even I have to conform to the politics of all this." Dr. Director let out a sigh. "And people wonder why we're ineffectual sometimes," she added under her breath.

"And Mann's just going to get away with this." It wasn't a question.

Doctor Director closed her eye. Just this morning Chief Agent Mann had informed her that the United Nations Security Council had approved Order 81-80F, which made Fast Track its own directorate within Global Justice, thus adding another layer of bureaucracy to an already overloaded organization. Mann wasn't untouchable, but he was getting further out of Dr. Director's reach. "Im sorry. There's nothing I can do."

"Why Ron?" Kim demanded. "What did Ron do to deserve this?"

"He did his job, Kim," Dr, Director replied. "He played the part of the bumbling sidekick, which made you look like an even bigger hero. Now Mann's convinced that Ron is just a buffoon who gets by by dumb luck."

"I don't get it, Dr. Director," Kim said. "Agent Mann seems to think that Ron and I have some kind of weird co-dependancy thing going and that I'd be better off without him. I think he's trying to break us up."

"Pay no attention to that, Kim," the director said. "That is just the ranting of a man with three failed marriages under his belt. He wouldn't know real love if it walked up and bit him." Kim gave a half grin. "But I think there's more to it than that. Do you know what Agent Mann was doing before he got the okay to launch Fast Track? He oversaw all confiscated villain tech we have in our possession. Before that he was one of GJ's top field agents. In fact, Agent Mann was Will Du's mentor."

"That certainly explains a few things," Kim muttered under her breath.

"A lot of the top brass thought that Marcus Mann would be the next director of Global Justice. Then an upstart junior agent made the scene and climbed her way to the top; outshining Mann's own rising star. I got the nod to take over as director instead of him, and he's never forgiven me for it. He even thinks that I put him in charge of that storage depot when it was my predecessor who made that call before stepping down." Dr. Director leaned forward and rested her folded hands on the table. "Mann thinks that I destroyed his career, so he's destroying Ron's before it begins. Ron was and still is on my short list of prospective agents. Mann can't do anything to me, so going after Ron is the next best thing."

Kim was trying to settle herself down as best she could. "What can I do to make this right?"

"Tell Ron the truth when you see him," the director said in a somber tone. "And tell him I'm sorry. I've filed a formal protest about this, and I've got the ball rolling on a board of inquiry about Mann's conduct. But for right now, my hands are tied."

"I'm already in the program," Kim said in a defeated tone. "Why keep Ron out of school?"

"Insurance to keep you in the program, Kim," Dr. Director replied. "As well as Mann holding his little 'victory' over my head."

"Well, it's not going to work," Kim said in a cold voice. "I'm going to petition for an early discharge. I'm so done with all this. I don't care if that means I'll be behind when I start college or not, this just isn't worth it. Ron's a hero. He doesn't deserve to be treated like this."

"You're right, Kim; he doesn't deserve it. And this isn't right. But I'm going to do my best to try to make it right. That's a promise." Dr. Director took a small stack of forms out of her briefcase. "Now, let's get you started on that early discharge petition."

--

He stood, intently looking at the security footage from a large TV screen; it seemed that one of the hired help was trying to skim off the top. His benefactor would be most interested in this as he didn't take kindly to people trying to rip him off. Just the thought of anyone taking what was his was enough to drive the boss into a rage. This "attempted theft," added to the theft of the nanotronium power cell last month, and the fact that the old man's brat had nearly been booted out of his fancy training course could make the old man have an aneurism. If he was lucky.

Right on cue the old man burst into the darkened room. Maybe "old" was a bit harsh. He was only in his fifties and still had a full head of hair, although its once rich brown hue had mostly faded to grey. "All right, Mr. Smythe," he snarled. "I've been having a very bad day. What's so damn important that it couldn't wait until after I've had a drink?"

The man, Smythe, smiled inwardly. "Had I waited, Mr. O'Shea, you would've had my head. I found this on the security feed." Smythe pressed a button on a small remote control, replaying the video. It showed one of Bradley O'Shea's most trusted associates sorting through sensitive computer files and backing them up on a USB drive. The vein in the middle of Mr. O'Shea's forehead started to bulge. Smythe truly hoped the old man would drop dead from it, but somehow he calmed down. He always calmed down.

"I don't believe this," Mr. O'Shea finally said. "Jenn Casey has worked for me for over fifteen years. Why would she steal from me?"

Smythe just shrugged. "I don't know why, sir," the word 'sir' was strained. "But the video and computer records don't lie. Mrs. Casey has been caught attempting industrial espionage. Would you like me to call the police?"

Mr. O'Shea shook his head in the negative. "No, Smythe," he said sadly. "I'll take care of it. That will be all."

Although they were in Smythe's work area at Omni-Tech's corporate headquarters, he left the old man with his thoughts. A wicked smile crossed the man known only as Smythe's face. Smythe. How he hated that name. The reason he had it was because it sounded like one of the old man's favorite words; "smite." The elder O'Shea had given him that name when he "acquired" Smythe's services from Marcus Mann at Global Justice. But then again, Smythe never really had a name or identity of his own. Maybe he would make one for himself once his revenge was complete.

And what a sweet revenge that will be. He was already closer than he had been just yesterday. That Casey woman was always a thorn in his side, poking her nose where it didn't belong, and now she was gone. He had told Mr. O'Shea that computers and video don't lie, but that in itself was a lie. When one was as good with computers as Smythe was, forging records was easy. The problem was the fact that Mrs. Casey was almost as good as that brat Wade Load. Even with the special rapport his new lease on life gave him with computers, Smythe knew that a trail could always be found and Jenn Casey was, unknowingly, getting close to uncovering it. If anyone could discover that it had been Smythe who stole the power cell, it was her.

Jenn Casey had merely been doing her job by backing up personnel files and yearly performance evaluations. The USB drive was just an extra copy she made to be on the safe side. That extra safety net would be her downfall. Little did she know that Smythe had remotely downloaded the incriminating files and sensitive contracts to her USB drive. Now Smythe wouldn't have Jenn Casey looking over his shoulder, threatening to discover his plans. It was all coming together nicely, and Smythe decided that he deserved to celebrate. Maybe he would send Stoppable another one of those nasty emails from the fictitious Friends of Kim Possible. After that, he would continue his search for the missing piece of the synaptic destabilizer puzzle. The rumors he had uncovered about a new device at the Go City Neurology Research Institute sounded most promising if they were true.

--

Life sucked. That was the conclusion Ron came to when he was hospitalized, and was solidified when he received a call from Martin Smarty after he got home forbidding him to work any more overtime until at least February. Ron was back to forty hours a week whether he liked it or not. "First I get the plague, then my folks flake on me, then I spend the night in the hospital, now this. Yup, life hates the Ron-Man," he grumbled as he got back in bed.

"Oh sorry," Rufus cooed from his spot on Ron's shoulder. He only had to spend one night in the hospital, but as far as he was concerned, that was one night too many. His 'rents were giving him a lot of space for whatever reason, and they were keeping Hana away from him out of fear of contagion. Ron wasn't sure if that was tougher on himself, or on his little sister. Ron was Hana's favorite person in the world, after all.

Ron's first day at home hadn't gone all that well. Even with cable daytime TV sucked, and the only email he had was more hate mail from the Friends of Kim Possible. Ron hated checking his email. Kim's internet usage at Fort Campbell was strictly limited, which meant no outside email. They were forced to resort to snail mail to correspond with each other outside of their monthly video calls. Ron would get the occasional email from Felix Renton, but those were getting more sporadic the closer Felix got to finals. He was in his first year at MIT, and classes there were not easy. The only kind of email Ron got more of than abuse from the FoKP was spam. More proof that life hated the Ron-man. Even Wade's attempts to block the IP addresses of the FoKP didn't work. He'd block one address and they'd come at Ron from a new one. At the thought of Wade, the four familiar alarm tones from the Ronlink went off.

"No rest for the weary," Ron said to himself as he grabbed the wrist communicator from his nightstand and turned it on. "Yo, Wade, what's the... SHEILA!!" he screamed when it was the pale green face of the former Shego instead of Team Possible's tech guru. Sheila Gordon-Lipsky did not look happy.

"Kimmie's mom said you were under the weather," she said in an annoyed tone. "What she should have said is that you look like death warmed over."

"Real nice, Sheila, kick a guy when he's down."

"Don't worry, Stoppable," she retorted. "You'll know when I'm kicking you. Just what did you think you were doing?"

"Uh, answering the Ronlink."

"No, buffoon, I mean what did you think you were doing working yourself into an early grave?" Sheila's face went from angry to concerned. She almost looked like Miss Go again. Almost. "Look, Ron." That got Ron's attention; she almost never called him by his first name. "Outside of Drew and Kimmie's dad, my baby's not going to have much in the way of male roll models. My father's dead, and I really don't want my kid taking after Herman or Mel." Herman and Mel, otherwise known as Hego and Mego, still weren't that high on their sister's list of favorite people. "That pretty much leaves my twin brothers and you. You're the godfather, remember? You can't do that if you're dead."

Ron hung his head. The message was received and understood. "I needed the money," was all he said.

"Why? You have enough for a new scooter by now, and Nerdlinger said he was able to help you find that present you wanted to give Kim." Ron flinched at the mention of his absent girlfriend. "You waited and someone else snatched it up, didn't you?"

Ron shot up like a meerkat. "No! It's all wrapped up and stashed in my closet so Hana won't get to it. And I'm not getting the scooter. I decided to get a car. One of the guys at work has an old clunker that I'm gonna buy and have the Tweebs trick out."

"Then what's the problem? You're making about as much sense as Drew." Sheila watched in annoyance as Ron opened a drawer on his nightstand and pulled out a rolled up catalogue. He leafed through it until he came to a worn page. He showed the former criminal a circled image. "I take that back. You are making sense. But don't you think that's a little, I don't know, extravagant?"

"Kim deserves the best," was Ron's simple reply. "Unfortunately, the best requires more fundage than I have. And that explains why I've been working so much!"

"Look, Stoppable, I think you need a woman's perspective on this. Besides, I've gone shopping with this girl, I know her tastes. You want some advice?" Ron nodded enthusiastically in the affirmative. "All right, sidekick, here's what I think you should do."


	6. Chapter 6

_Disney owns the characters, I'm just taking them for a test drive._

_--_

This was it. It was the first time any Global Justice Fast Track team would be out in the field for a real mission. Omicron 7, Lambda 3, and Omega 12 were the highest scoring teams, so they were the ones selected for this operation. In Omega 12's case, the fact that Kim Possible was a member and already had practical field experience didn't hurt. In fact, with the exception of her teammate Rick O'Shea, the members of all three teams were looking to her for guidance; even Gilbert Lewis from Lambda 3, who was acting as field leader for this mission. If Gilbert had gotten his way, it would be Kim leading this mission instead of him.

The three teams were on the top floor of an abandoned high rise in downtown Go City. The next building over was the subject of their mission. "That," Mann said as he gestured to the building, "is the Go City Neurological Research Institute. We were tipped off that someone is going to try to steal the prototype for their synaptic mapper. We also have reason to believe that this is the same individual who made off with Omni-Tech's nanotronium power cell, the Middleston Space Center's parabolic mirror array, and various other materials."

"Sir," Gilbert Lewis raised his hand. "I thought the Omni-Tech theft was an inside job."

"Hey!" Rick O'Shea snapped. "You calling the people who work for my dad crooks?" Rick's teammate Lynn Corrigable elbowed him in the ribs to try to get him to shut up.

"No one is saying that, Cadet Agent O'Shea," Mann said. "And yes, one of the theories is that the theft of the power cell was an inside job. Remember that there was no evidence left behind." Mann surveyed his troops. "We're going to succeed where local law enforcement has failed, and we're going to show why certain amateurs," Mann looked right at Kim when he said that, "should stay home and leave this kind of work to the professionals. You twelve are the best of the best that Fast Track has to offer. You will be the cornerstone of a new, more efficient Global Justice. I know you'll make me proud. Questions?"

"Who supplied the tip, Sir?" Angela Ramos from Omicron 7 asked.

"It was an anonymous tip," Mann admitted. "But we've been analyzing the specs for the materials that have been stolen, and we think that our perp is trying to build a synaptic destabilizer." The assembled cadet agents murmured for a few moments at the mention of this rather nasty sounding weapon.

"Wait a minute," Kim said. "That was a Hench Co device, wasn't it? I thought they couldn't get it to work so the project was scrapped."

Mann looked at Kim like she had just single handedly answered the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything. "How did you-"

"A certain amateur who knows his way around a mainframe," she replied smugly. "Still," Kim said, once again going into mission mode. "This could be real trouble. This thing was designed to scramble a person's brainwaves, making the victim either a drone with no will of their own, or a mindless shell."

"Thank you, _Cadet Agent," _Mann practically hissed. Ever since Kim submitted her petition for an early discharge, Mann had been overtly harsh with her, especially since Dr. Director had already signed off on it. "Any other questions?"

Miles Walker from Omega 12 raised his hand. "What about Team Go?"

"What about Team Go?" Mann huffed. "Those four are about as useful as a dead battery, Cadet Agent Walker. The last thing we need is Hego storming in and breaking everything while making speeches. We're intentionally leaving them out of the loop on this. Leave the super heroics to the comic books and the movies. Now, if there are no more questions, let's get down to business. Cadet Agent Lewis will be the field leader for this operation, and I will be here at the command center just in case I'm needed. This is just a simple thief, so you should have no trouble. Let's get to work. Dismissed!"

--

A man dressed head to toe in black was crouching on the roof of the building GJ was using as a staging area. They had taken the bait. The man known only as Smythe had been able to stage his thefts without anyone knowing about them until it was too late, but he knew his luck couldn't last forever. Sooner or later Global Justice, Team Go, the police, or even that loser Stoppable might catch him in the act. He needed to know if he could take them on. Smythe adjusted the black helmet that obscured his face. The push of a small button on the right side turned on the helmet's holographic heads up display. No eye holes for him; Smythe was doing this virtually, and with all the vision enhancements Omni-Tech's gadgetry could provide. "Time to go to work," he said to himself.

The streets of Go City were quiet, but then again, it was the middle of the night. For as big as Go City was, it didn't have much in the way of an active nightlife. This worked to the advantage of both Smythe and his pursuers. But GJ was here on Smythe's terms. He was in charge, they just didn't know it yet. Smythe was actually looking forward to this, especially facing off against Possible again. He only hoped that his other guest would show up as well.

--

A light blue station wagon sat parked on the street several miles away from the Go City Neurological Research Institute. It was an inconspicuous looking car; the only thing out of the ordinary was the Fearless Ferret sticker on the front bumper. Inside the car sat Ron Stoppable, with Rufus in a cup holder that had been modified into his own little seat. Above the radio was a video monitor, and on that monitor was a split screen transmission; on one side was the face of Wade Load, and on the other were the identical faces of Jim and Tim Possible. All three of them looked concerned; they all knew that Ron wasn't really up for this.

"You don't have to do this, Ron," Wade said. "You're still not up to one hundred percent."

"Yeah, Ron," Jim said. "Besides, your car's not as tricked out as the Sloth."

"You don't need to give it a full field test yet," Tim added. "And if Mom finds out you're out on a mission, she'll kill you."

"And she'll kill us if she knew we were helping you," they both said.

"It's all good, guys," Ron said with as much bravado as he could. Bed rest and antibiotics had done wonders for him, but he was still coughing at the drop of a hat. "Besides, Wade, you even said this seemed a bit weird."

"It is," Wade conceded. "I mean, a tip to both us and Fast Track? It doesn't take an actuary to figure out the odds that this is a set up. It looks like someone has it out for you and Kim. Why else make sure you'll both be here?"

Ron unbuckled his seatbelt. "Well, it looks like we're on."

"Be careful, Ron," Wade said as he signed off.

"Yeah," Tim agreed.

"We don't want to you to get hurt," Jim said.

Rufus jumped on Ron's shoulder as he got out of the car. Ron took as deep a breath as his lungs would allow and he activated his rocket skates. "Bad idea," Rufus squeaked. "Too sick. Need sleep."

"No choice, buddy," Ron replied. "The world won't save itself." Ron's eyes turned blue as he tapped into the Mystical Monkey Power. He was going to need the extra boost to get through this.

--

Gilbert Lewis didn't like this. True his mother was a police detective and her deductive abilities had rubbed off on her son, but Gilbert wasn't leadership material and he knew it. He didn't even want to be in charge, especially when Kim Possible was there. She had done stuff like this countless times and could probably take this thief down with her eyes closed and both hands behind her back. Gilbert was pacing back and forth on the ground floor, trying to get himself together before Agent Mann gave the order to proceed.

"Gilbert, you okay?" a voice asked. It belonged to Kim Possible.

"No," he replied. "I feel like I'm about to have a heart attack."

"You'll be fine, Gilbert," Kim said with conviction. "I'll be right there with you. As someone very special to me likes to say, 'I've got your back.' We all do. Besides, I think this guy is going to have his hands full with the security in there."

Gilbert cocked an eyebrow and adjusted his glasses. "Do you know something the rest of us don't?"

"I know who tested that lab's security measures, and I know who upgraded them. Ever heard of Gordon Security Consultants?"

"Should I have?"

"Let's just say that our thief is in for a rude awakening." Kim sighed and made her way to the abandoned reception desk. She really didn't want to be there. Her teammates Miles and Lynn were supportive of her decision to leave, as were quite a few of the other Fast Track recruits, but there were others in the program who were calling her a quitter. Gilbert Lewis was not one of those people.

"Are you okay, Kim?" Gilbert asked, turning the tables on her.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Kim replied. She didn't convince Gilbert or herself.

--

Smythe had snuck into the Research Institute's underground parking garage. He had thought about going in through the front door, but he would rather not be detected. If he could sneak in under GJ's noses, so much the better, especially since these were Mann's people. Showing them up would be a surefire way to humiliate the chief agent. The fact that Possible was part of that crew now was just an added bonus. Smythe had just called an elevator car when he heard someone behind him say, "Hold it right there, jerk!"

Smythe spun around to see Rick O'Shea pointing a stun pistol at him. "Well well well, if it isn't Richie Rich," he taunted. "Does your daddy know you're playing with toys like that."

"Very funny," Rick retorted. He put his left index finger against his communicator earpiece. "This is O'Shea, I found the guy. I've got him in the parking lot."

"Hold him there and wait for backup," Gilbert said over the comm.

Smythe grinned behind his dark faceplate. His helmet had just hacked into Fast Track's communications system,and he could hear every word they said now. "I think not," Smythe said, transmitting his digitally altered voice to the chief agent. "Hey, Marcus," he called out. "Is this the best you can do?" Faster than Rick could react, Smythe was in motion. He charged at Rick and felled him with a single blow to the face. "You can thank your dad for that one, junior." With that Smythe entered the elevator, leaving a slightly dazed Rick O'Shea behind, struggling to get to his feet.

"This is O'Shea," Rick finally said. "He got away. He's in the building."

--

Marcus Mann was in shock. The thief knew him. How did the thief know him? He clicked the off the safety on his sidearm. Something about this whole thing wasn't right.

--

The elevator ride was anything but smooth. Sensing an intruder, the building's security system kicked in. Hidden nozzles deployed in the elevator car and shot out a rapidly drying foam solution at Smythe that threatened to immobilize him. He punched a hole in the ceiling of the car and jumped out. When the car came to the first floor, he leapt at the doors and punched his way out of the elevator shaft. But it was out of the frying pan and into the fire.

Alarm klaxons were sounding throughout the building. Smythe found his path blocked by a laser security grid; a laser security grid that not even a fly could get through. "What the hell is going on here?" he muttered to himself. The only way out was through the air ducts.

--

Ron made his way to the front of the Research Institute; no small feat considering that GJ had the the streets blocked off for miles around the place, making it look like there was road work going on. Ron had to use all the ninja stealth tricks he'd learned at Yamanuchi to avoid being caught. The place wasn't exactly swarming with Fast Track cadet agents, but there were more there than Ron had expected. One of them, an African American man, saw Ron and jogged over to him. Ron could make out the Greek letter omega on the front of the man's blue uniform, as well as the number 12. "Miles Walker, I presume?" Ron said. "KP's told me a lot about you."

Miles grinned to himself. "Blond hair, black turtleneck, grey cargoes, and a naked mole rat in the pocket. You have to be Ron Stoppable."

"Wow," Ron said. "You got my name right." That even got a thumbs up from Rufus.

"With how often Kim mentions you, it's hard not to. Let me guess, you got tipped off about this, too."

"Yeah," Ron said. "Our tech guy Wade thinks it's a set up."

"If we all got tipped off about this, then I'm gonna have to agree with him." Miles turned his attention back to the Research Institute. "Something about this doesn't feel right."

--

The air ducts weren't that much better an option. No sooner had Smythe broken into the ventilation system than he was being pursued by several dozen Rufus shaped drones with very sharp teeth. "It just had to be mole rats," he grumbled. After scrambling through the air ducts, Smythe finally came to a ventilation grate and knocked it out. It got him away from the robo-mole rats, but it deposited him outside in a back alley. "When I get my hands on whoever set up this security system, I'm gonna kill him!"

--

Gilbert Lewis wore the look of a deer in headlights. Even with all his training, he didn't know what to do. O'Shea found the thief, but was taken out in less than a second. Now the thief had vanished into the building. Kim was confident that the security measures in there would stop him, but Gilbert wasn't sure. Now he had Chief Agent Mann ranting like a lunatic and demanding status reports every ten seconds.

"Are you listening to me, Lewis?" Mann bellowed. "I need to know who this clown is and I need to know _NOW!!"_

At the same time that Gilbert was dealing with Mann's tirade, he was being bombarded with questions and requests for instructions from the rest of the cadet agents on the ground. Finally, he had enough. He opened his communicator channel and shouted, "Everyone just _SHUT UP!!" _Kim, who was standing next to him, put a a calming hand on Gilbert's shoulder. "As of this moment," Gilbert stammered, "I'm turning command of this op over to Cadet Agent Possible."

"What?" Mann demanded. "Belay that order, Possible! I'm taking over!"

"Sorry, Marcus old buddy, but she can't hear you," the electronically altered voice of Smythe taunted. "In fact, none of your little tin soldiers can hear you right now. I'm waiting, Mann. I'm sure you're smart enough to trace my signal and find me."

Kim, meanwhile, had taken charge. "Okay, people, here's the sitch; that building is harder to get into than Fort Knox. He'll either be trapped inside, or have to find a way out. I want all exits covered, as well as someone in the basement, on the roof, and by any exterior air ducts. Have your stunners at the ready and be careful. I'm on my way to the front door."

"Thank you," Gilbert sighed.

"No big," Kim replied. "This is what I do."

--

Miles Walker was smirking. "Looks like your lady friend just took over," he said to Ron Stoppable. "What to you think, Ron, doors or air ducts?"

Before Ron could answer, the Ronlink went off. "It looks like our guy set off the Rufus drones," Wade said. "They herded him towards one of the air vents that lead to the alley behind the Research Institute."

"Thanks Wade. Miles my man, care to join me in the alley?" Ron smiled.

"After you," Miles replied.

"Gotta love the air ducts," Ron said. "They're the hidden highways, you know."

"Rufus drones?" Miles couldn't help but laugh.

"Oh yeah, me drones," Rufus excitedly declared.

"We know the people who set up the security system for this place," Ron explained. "A husband and wife team. Sheila tests out the existing security system, and Drew redesigns it. The robot mole rats were his idea."

--

Marcus Mann was seeing red. This was supposed to be a routine operation, but it degenerated into a farce. Mann stormed out of the command center and onto the street. As per Possible's orders, the assembled cadet agents had organized themselves and were covering the exits. Mann pulled a small PDA out of his pocket and set it to trace the thief's signal. It directed Mann to the alley behind the Institute. Man drew his gun and took off running, hoping beyond all hope that nothing else would wrong.

--

Smythe needed to get his bearings. He called up a map of the area on his heads up display and saw one blip coming at him from one end of the alley, and two from the other. "Dammit," he hissed. When that Lewis kid was in charge this was a cake walk. Now that he did the smart thing and put Possible in charge, it was all going to hell.

"Hold it right there!" Smythe heard a voice to his left declare. When he turned to face the voice, Smythe started to laugh. "What's so funny?" Mann demanded with a sneer. "You're the one who called me out, remember?"

"Marcus Mann playing cowboy and coming in with guns blazing." Smythe calmly walked towards the chief agent.

"The safety's off on this," Mann warned. "I warn you, this weapon's the real thing, not a stunner like the recruits have. I will not hesitate to shoot you. Now who are you, and how do you know me?"

"So sorry," Smythe sneered as he pulled off his helmet and showed his face. "Recognize me now, Marcus?"

Mann dropped his gun and stumbled back. "You? How did, I mean, when I-"

"That's right, Mann," Smythe snarled. "When you sold me to O'Shea, I was in really bad shape. But his people do good work." Smythe flexed his arms. "Better than new. And I can't wait to use these new hands to tear you apart."

Before Smythe could move any closer, a stun beam glanced off a nearby drain pipe. Smythe quickly donned his helmet and spun around. "Step away from the chief agent and put your hands over your head," Miles ordered.

Smythe saw who was standing beside the Fast Track cadet agent and chuckled. "It's old home night tonight, isn't it, Stoppable?"

Ron had been getting a bad feeling about this guy since he first set eyes on him. He went into a defensive stance, expecting the worst. "How do you know me, dude?"

"I could tell you," Smythe sneered. "But then I'd have to kill you. To be honest though, I was planning on doing that anyway!" Smythe charged at Ron with inhuman speed. Ron's eyes flared blue and he jumped, narrowly avoiding his attacker. "Look's like someone learned some new tricks."

"I'm full of surprises," Ron quipped.

"You're full of something, I'll give you that." Smythe charged at Ron again, only this time Ron didn't jump out of the way; he met Smythe head on. Ron ducked low and came up under the man in black, flipping him over.

While this was going on, Miles ran to his dumbfounded commanding officer. "Who is that guy?" Miles asked, but Mann didn't answer. He was still in shock after seeing Smythe unmasked, as well as enthralled with the battle unfolding before him. "Walker to Possible," Miles said into his communicator. "We found the perp in the alley behind the building. We need back up yesterday!"

"On my way, Miles," came the reply. "Sit tight!"

Miles watched the fight playing out in front of him. Both combatants were moving faster than they should be able to, and both seemed inhumanly strong. What really bothered him was how winded Ron was getting. Kim had mentioned that Ron had been sick and it looked like he was still under the weather.

"First Dementor, now you," Ron observed as he landed a kick to the side of Smythe's head. "What is it with bad guys and helmets? Are you like, really hideously burned under that thing? You know like Darkman?"

"Don't you ever shut up?" Stoppable's incessant prattling was driving Smythe insane. Having had enough, Smythe lunged full force at Ron and threw a punch. Ron grabbed Smythe's extended arm and threw his attacker, dislocating Smythe's shoulder and elbow in the process. He came to rest about ten feet from where Ron had launched him.

"You couldn't do that before," Smythe snarled as he got to his feet.

"Like I said, dude," a heavily panting Ron said. "I'm full of surprises." He looked at Smythe's limply hanging left arm. "Looks like you are, too, Mr. Roboto."

Smythe looked down at his arm and saw exposed wiring and circuitry jutting out from the rips in the fabric of his black shirt and the torn flesh underneath. "You have no idea, loser."

"If he's such a loser, how come he just kicked your sorry biscuit?" another voice called out. Kim Possible was running up to them with her sidearm drawn and Gilbert Lewis following close behind. "Imagine how bad he would've beat you if he wasn't sick and supposed to be home in bed." The look she gave Ron could have frozen the sun.

"There's nowhere for you to go," Gilbert warned as he drew his stunner. "Surrender now or we will be forced to open fire!"

"I didn't plan on having our little reunion turn out like this, Kimmie." Smythe pulled a small remote control out of his pocket and pushed a button. "But don't worry, we'll see each other again real soon." From out of nowhere a black wing swooped down, latched onto Smythe's back, and flew him skyward.

"Come down or I'll bring you down!" Gilbert yelled.

"Sorry, pal, but that stun gun won't do jack against me!" Smythe taunted. His point was proven when Gilbert made a direct hit and it had no affect.

"Who are you?" Kim demanded.

"You'll find out soon enough, Kim," Smythe smugly replied. "But for the time being, you can call me Smite!" The jets on Smite's wing launched him into the star filled sky and out of sight.

Ron's eyes immediately faded back to brown and his body was wracked by a coughing fit that doubled him over.

"Ron!" Kim ran to her boyfriend's side and eased him to the ground.

--

Marcus Mann could hardly believe what he saw. The civilian who showed up with Cadet Agent Walker had moves unlike any Mann had ever seen before. _How did I miss this guy when I was recruiting?_ he thought. That was a mistake he was going to rectify right now. He came to where the blond young man was sitting. Possible sat beside him, holding his hand. "How are you feeling, son?" Mann asked in his most cordial voice. He was answered by another severe coughing fit.

"Easy, Ron," Kim said in a soothing voice. "What did you think you were doing anyway?"

Ron fought to catch his breath. "We thought you were walking into a trap, KP. I didn't want you to get hurt."

"Ferociously sweet." Kim kissed Ron's cheek. "But not necessary. I can take care of myself, Ron, which is what you should have been doing tonight. Do you know how scared I got when my mom told me you were in the hospital? You can't scare me like that again, Ron. Not ever."

"I take it he's a friend of yours, Cadet Agent Possible?" Mann had a gleam in his eye; the same gleam he had the day he recruited Kim.

"You're kidding, right?" Kim asked incredulously. "This is Ron Stoppable. You know my boyfriend, my partner, and the guy you passed over because you said he wasn't Fast Track material!"

Mann was slightly taken aback. "I thought your _sidekick's_ name was Portable." Mann's face turned to a slight scowl.

"It's Stoppable!" Kim yelled as she stood and confronted Mann.

"Amp down, KP."

"I will not amp down, Ron. I am sick and tired of people forgetting your name or completely screwing you over!"

"That's enough, Cadet Agent," Mann warned.

"You're right, it is." Kim looked over at the love of her life. "I'm so sorry, Ron. I didn't want you to find out like this, but you need to know." She turned her attention back to Mann. "Chief Agent Mann here is the reason you're not in college right now. He had his people get those schools to ignore you."

"Uh, KP, don't you think that sounds a bit far fetched? I mean, that's a lot of schools."

"More than my people could handle, actually," Mann said in an angry voice. "We had to resort to intercepting your acceptance letters."

"What?" Ron couldn't believe what he was hearing. "You mean you're the reason I'm stuck being the Smarty Mart employee of the month and why those Friends of Kim Possible jerks keep calling me a college reject and an academic loser?!" This was the proverbial last straw. Ron's face went from confused to enraged, and he grabbed hold of Mann's collar, dragging the taller man down to Ron's eye level. "What gave you the right!? I never did anything to you and you just flush my life away!"

"Ron he's not worth it," Kim stated, trying to convince herself.

"If you do anything to me, Scrappable," Mann said with some fear in his voice, "I can have you put away for the rest of your life where no one would ever find you."

Ron let go and collapsed against the alley wall. "Like you haven't done enough to me already." Ron kept his eyes locked on Mann's, and what Mann saw in those eyes terrified him; they were full of rage, hurt, and something more primal, something that told Mann Ron was more than capable of hurting him in ways undreamed of if he truly wanted to. Mann swallowed hard and took a step back.

"You three," Mann stammered to Miles, Gilbert and Kim. "Get back to the staging area. We're clearing out."

"No," Kim firmly replied. "I'm waiting with Ron until his ride gets here."

"That wasn't a request, Cadet Agent, it was an order." Mann was trying to regain his composure.

"I'm disobeying that order." Kim replied in a matter of fact tone.

"If you do, Possible, I will make your remaining time with Fast Track as unpleasant as I can."

"Bring it. After all, it's not like I'm making someone fall through the ice. Right?"

Mann stiffened. "You have ten minutes, Possible. Walker, Lewis, move out."

Miles went over to his new friend. "Hang in there, okay, Ron." He was awarded with a slow nod and a weak grin. Rufus jumped from Miles' hand to Ron's shoulder. "Keep an eye on him for me, will you, Rufus?" The naked mole rat gave him a military salute. "See you back at the transport, Kim," Miles said before heading off.

"I can just have Wade send the car, KP," Ron said in a defeated voice. "Don't get busted because of me. I'm not worth it."

"Yes you are, Ron!" she snapped. "You are so worth it." She gently kissed him on the lips. "I love you so much. Don't forget that."

"Love you, too, KP." He rested his head on her shoulder. "Don't worry about me. I'll be fine." It was a lie and they both knew it.

--

Dana Stoppable awoke at her customary 5:30 in the morning. When she checked in on her young daughter, she saw that Hana was already awake and ready to start her day. The two made their way down to the kitchen, where Dana saw her son sitting at the table. "You're up early, Ronnie," she said as she put Hana in her high chair. Then she took another look at Ron and saw what he was wearing. "Were you out on a mission? Ronnie, you're still too sick for that!"

Hana, meanwhile, was studying the look on her big brother's face. An insightful child, she could tell right away that something was terribly wrong. "Brother sad, Mommy," she said. "Brother sad."

Dana sat down beside her son. "Ronnie, what happened?"

"I stopped the thief," Ron said in a monotone voice. "And I saved a guy from getting pounded on. Agent Mann, the guy who heads up that GJ thing Kim's doing. He was nice to me until he found out who I was. Turns out he's the reason I never heard form any of those schools I applied to." Ron put his head down on the table as he remembered everything Kim told him while he waited for the car. "I never get a second thought, Mom. Not from the bad guys, not from the people we help." He turned and looked at his mother. "Not from you and Dad. I guess I really am a loser."

"Oh Ronnie," Dana said in a hushed tone.

Ron stood up, kissed his baby sister on the forehead, and quietly headed for the stairs. "Well, I'm done. No more world saving. If no one wants Ron Stoppable's help, that's fine. Message received. I quit."

--

Kim Possible stood before Chief Agent Mann in his office; it was time to pay the piper.

"You are in serious trouble, Possible," he finally said. "Gross insubordination, and you decided to divulge classified Fast Track information to a civilian."

"Dr. Director herself told me about what you did to Ron," Kim snapped. "If it was so classified, why did she inform a lowly little cadet agent of it?"

Mann sat behind his desk and tented his fingers. "You're on report, Possible, as well as probation." That was really all Mann could do, partially because of how lenient he had been with Rick O'Shea after that incident in the Sierra Nevadas. In Mann's mind, Kim's offenses should get her kicked out of the program, but that wouldn't have been much of a punishment since she wanted out anyway. But he needed to make an example of her to keep the other recruits in line. "What was it your boyfriend called you? KP? I think it's only fitting that KP gets KP duty for insubordination. Report to the mess hall at 0430 hours tomorrow morning for kitchen patrol."

A look of concern washed over Kim's face. "That's a little early for breakfast clean up, isn't it?"

"Who said anything about clean up?" Mann sneered. "You're going to help with the cooking. Dismissed."

Kim suppressed a laugh. _Agent Mann, you just made a huge mistake, _she thought as she left Mann's office.

Mann sighed in relief as his office door closed. He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out his cell phone; he was not looking forward to calling Bradley O'Shea about this, but he had to know how Smite was even walking, let alone attempting to steal high tech medical equipment.

Mann's thoughts then turned to Ron Stoppable. "Do whatever it takes to achieve your goals," he had been told by his mentor as a junior agent. Mann's entire career was built on that philosophy, and it had served him well up to a point. He thought about what lengths he went to in order to recruit Kim Possible. It had been an abuse of power and highly unethical to keep her sidekick out of college. It was also severe overkill, but he felt that it was necessary in order to get Possible to sign up. The fact that it was a slap in the face of Betty Director was just an added bonus. Sure it was petty, but it still felt good.

Mann thought that the world famous Kim Possible would bring much needed legitimacy to Fast Track in the eyes of the Global Justice hierarchy, and for the most part she had. But now, after seeing what Ron Stoppable could do, and seeing the look in his eyes when Mann's dirty little secret was revealed, well, Mann wasn't so sure that it had been worth it. For the first time in his career he saw firsthand the adverse effects his actions had on another person. "What gave you the right!?" Ron had demanded. "I never did anything to you and you just flush my life away!" For the first time in his long career, Mann felt profound guilt over something he had done, and he didn't like it. But that wasn't all he was feeling. A cold shiver ran down the spine of Marcus Mann. He didn't know what he was more afraid of; facing Smite again, or facing Stoppable.


	7. Chapter 7

_Disney owns the characters, I'm just taking them for a test drive._

--

Marcus Mann was learning firsthand how disheartening Murphy's Law could be. First he learns that one of his own "business transactions" had come back to haunt him, then he had to call Bradley O'Shea about it and get blamed for the whole thing, and now he had to deal with this mess. Truth be told, "mess" was a gross understatement. "Total disaster area" was more appropriate. Pancake batter and oatmeal were splattered on the walls and the ceiling, some of the skillets had the charred remains of bacon and sausage practically bonded to them, several blenders had burned out motors, and the stench of a grease fire still hung in the air. Then Mann saw the cause of this carnage; Cadet Agent Kim Possible wearing the look of a cat that just ate the canary. Mann looked over at head cook Gabriel Hill, an older, lanky man with a shaved head. "How?" Mann asked.

"Damned if I know, Chief," Hill shrugged. "She comes in, warns us that putting her in the kitchen is like giving a chimp control of the world's nuclear arsenal, and proceeds to do this."

Mann scowled at Kim. "I thought you could do anything, Possible?"

"I can't cook," she innocently replied. Hill was trying to keep from busting up laughing. He knew that Kim had hammed it up a bit, partially at his urging. For as state of the art as Fort Campbell was, its cooking facilities left a lot to be desired; much of the kitchen hadn't been upgraded since the 1970's. Due to Kim's intervention, Hill knew that the changes he had asked for last year would finally be implemented. He gave Kim a discrete wink.

Mann rubbed his temples. The last two days had been a nightmare and today didn't look like it was going to get any better. "Possible, you're confined to quarters until further notice. Get out of here." As Kim walked off, Mann pulled a small flask from his pocket and took a swig.

"A bit early in the morning for that, isn't it, Chief?" Hill asked.

Mann ignored him. "How long until you get this mess cleaned up?"

"Two weeks, at least."

"Two weeks!?"

"I didn't stutter." Hill said in an even tone. "It's not just the clean up; we need to have ovens replaced, maybe repaint in here to get rid of some of the scorch marks. Chief, this place needs overhauled, and I need two weeks to do it. Maybe more. And before you ask, yes we do have some rations, but those will only last a few days, especially since we already had to get into them this morning. I mean, today's breakfast wasn't exactly fit for human consumption. Looks like you're gonna have to send the troops home a little early and give them a real vacation."

"Perfect," Mann muttered as he took another drink from his flask.

--

Smite looked down at his left arm; it had taken awhile, but his self repair systems had eliminated all signs of damage. Gone were the dislocated joints, torn artificial skin, and exposed circuitry. It was still inconceivable that Ron Stoppable had dished out that much hurt. What really bothered Smite was what Possible had said, that Stoppable would have given him more trouble had he not been sick. "Was he holding back?" That question chilled Smite to the core.

Smite hadn't returned to Omni-Tech since the fight at the Go City Neurological Research Institute. Instead he was holed up in a makeshift lair he had set up in the outskirts of Go City. He was also setting up another one in Middleton, a lair from which he could truly launch his revenge. He looked around the small chamber; there were a few super computers, as well as several variations of the flight wing and infiltration suit he had used the night before. It was all gear he had been lifting from Omni-Tech over the last several months under the old man's nose. It was all equipment scheduled to be recycled, all equipment that wouldn't be missed. That's the only thing he would miss about his little "arrangement" with Bradley O'Shea; now he would have to take a page from Dr. Drakken's book and steal all the weaponry and gear he needed. "Looks like I've arrived on the super villain scene," he said to himself.

Smite ran his hand through his thick, dark hair. Revealing his identity to Mann had been a calculated risk, and he knew that O'Shea had probably already been informed. Smite was glad that he had removed his locator beacon months ago; there was no way the old man could find him unless he wanted to be found. Smite knew, however, that he would have to face O'Shea sooner or later; he still had a few things at Omni-Tech that he was going to need, as well as a keepsake he wanted to pick up.

--

Dean Stoppable watched with worry as his son packed a lunch to take with him to his first day back on the job. It had been over a day since Ron's last mission, and Dean knew his son had barely slept since. Ron was basically going through the motions right now, but there was more to it than that. That spark that made Ron Ron had been extinguished. It was like watching the ghost of Ron Stoppable.

"See you tonight," Ron said in a neutral tone as he headed for the door.

"Ronald, are you going to be all right?"

"Fine. See you later." He didn't even make eye contact.

"Brother sad, Daddy," Hana said from her playpen. "Brother not 'posed to be sad."

Dean leaned down to pick his young daughter up. "No, he's not supposed to be sad," Dean sullenly replied. He knew he needed to have a father to son talk with Ron when he got home, but getting Ron to talk wasn't going to be an easy task.

--

"Possible residence," Tim Possible said as he answered the phone in the living room.

"Hey, Tim, are Mom or Dad there?"

"Kim? Since when do you call on the phone? I thought you only got to use the video transmissions."

"Well," Kim said, "this is a bit different. I mean, I did blow up the kitchen."

"You blew up the kitchen?!" Tim had never heard anything so cool in his entire life. "Hoosha, Kim! How did you do it?"

Kim had to laugh at her brother's enthusiasm for things that went boom. '"I'll tell you tomorrow after I get home. That's why I need to talk to Mom or Dad. I'm being sent home early because of the kitchen."

"Dad!" Tim yelled. "Kim blew up the kitchen at Fort Campbell so she's coming home early! Man I can't wait to tell Jim about this!"

"I've got it, Tim," James Possible said as he took the phone from his son. "Kimmie-Cub, what's this I hear about you destroying Global Justice property?"

"Maybe 'blew up' is too strong a term," she said in her defense. "But the place does need fixed up now. And before you say anything, I did warn them that I can't cook when they gave me KP duty."

"So you're coming home early? When?"

"Tomorrow at noon," she replied. "Can you or Mom pick me up?"

James winced. "Oooooh, sorry, no can do, Kimmie-Cub. I've got an all day meeting about the guidance system for the Keppler III, and your mother is meeting with the chair of the neurology department at Upperton U about being a guest lecturer next semester."

"Maybe we can help you out," Sheila Gordon-Lipsky said as she enteered the room. "I'd love to hear about Kimmie's little kitchen mishap."

--

Ron Stoppable was numb. That was the only way he could describe how he felt, or how he wasn't feeling. He didn't even panic when he was told that Martin Smarty himself was coming to the store tomorrow specifically to talk to Ron. It was just another cruel trick fate was playing on him, and Ron didn't care. He couldn't even feel any sort of surprise when he came home that evening and found both of his parents waiting for him with a plate full of nacos.

"We really need to talk, son," Dean Stoppable said in a somber tone. "Sit down and have a naco."

"Not hungry and don't wanna talk," Ron replied as he went for the stairs. "See you in the morning."

"Ronald Dean Stoppable you stop right there!" his mother bellowed. "This has to stop, Ronnie. This isn't like you. You've just given up on life and that isn't like you."

"I think you're about a decade too late for the pep talk, Mom."

"Okay," Dean sighed. "We deserved that. I admit, we haven't been the best parents in the world."

"That's an understatement," Ron muttered. "Just promise me you won't pull the same stuff on Hana that you did with me." Ron again attempted to go up the stairs, only this time Rufus leapt from Ron's cargo pocket and climbed up the front of his shirt until he came to Ron's collar. He grabbed hold with one paw, and proceeded to smack Ron with the other, just like he had when Ron locked himself in that panic room, all the while using every profanity known to mole rat kind.

Ron simply pulled Rufus off his collar and set him on the bannister. He was about to go upstairs when he heard a sad little voice say "Brother not 'posed to be sad." That's when Ron noticed that Hana was sitting on Dana's lap, clutching her favorite Flippies book to her chest.

"I'm not sad, Han," Ron finally said. "I'm not anything."

"And that's the problem, Ronnie," Dana declared. "Even after everything you've gone through, you've never just given up before."

"Yeah, well," Ron leaned against the wall by the stairs. "I guess I've finally had too much."

"Son," Dean stood up and went over to Ron. "I'm not going to start spouting cliches to you. I'm just going to tell you the truth. You're one of the strongest people I've ever known, son. You're a lot stronger than I am. I know for a fact that I couldn't have handled even a tenth of what you have."

"What do I have to show for it? The only people who remember my name are a bunch of faceless bloggers who like to bust my chops, then there are the guys in charge of super secret spy training programs who think it's fine to just screw me over, and bad guys who won't even admit I've beaten them." Ron wiped away the few tears that had managed to sneak put of his eyes. "I've got nothing, Dad."

"Brother has Hana," the youngest Stoppable said. "Brother has Roofus and Mommy and Daddy and Sister."

Dana smiled at her daughter. "She's right, Ronnie." Dana stood up with Hana and joined Dean at Ron's side. "You have us, even though we haven't always been there when you've needed us. And I promise you that's going to change." Dana herself was getting teary eyed. "And you have Kim. That girl is the best thing that ever happened to you, Ronnie; how do you think she'd feel if she saw you like this?"

"Responsible." Ron said in a faraway voice. "She'll think that this is her fault because she wasn't here." Almost on auto pilot he reached into one of his cargo pants pockets and took hold of a small bundle that had been resting there since Ron purchased it on the way to work that morning.

"Did you get it?" Dean asked. Ron nodded and pulled the small bundle out. Dean and his wife opened it and gazed at its contents.

"It's beautiful, Ronnie."

"Nice and simple, like Sheila suggested." Even with the funk he was in, this was the one thing he never doubted.

"She'll love it, son," Dean said. "But not because of how it looks. She'll love it because of who is giving it to her. The way your mother and I see it, we have three children; a son and two daughters. Kim's always been like a daughter to us, just like you've always been a son to Anne and James. The important people remember your name, Ronald. The important people know what you've done and who you've helped. If the rest of the world is too stupid to see that, then that's their problem. There's always a solution to any problem, Ronald. We can figure out a way around this college thing, and just maybe we can find a way of holding Agent Mann accountable for this. You know how James is always saying that anything is possible for a Possible? Well, there is no stopping a Stoppable."

"Booyah!" Rufus shouted as he jumped on Ron's head.

"I thought you said no cliches." Ron said with a bit of a chuckle.

"I couldn't resist that one." The Stoppable clan huddled together in a family hug.

"You're going to be all right, Ronnie," Dana said with a sniffle. "Everything is going to be all right. We'll get you through this."

--

If anyone had ever told Kim Possible that she would willingly get into any vehicle operated by Dr. Drakken, she would've told them to get their head examined. But there she was, loading her duffle bag into the back of the Lipsky min van. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Sheila wince.

"You okay?"

"Fine," the former villain replied. "Your godson was just using my bladder for a soccer ball, that's all."

"Godson?" Kim's eyes lit up. "You're having a little boy?"

"Joseph Theodore Lipsky!" Drew grandly proclaimed, punctuated by bright yellow flower petals erupting around his face. "That was mildly irritating the first hundred times, but now it's infuriating!" Sheila proceeded to calmly pluck the petals from around her husband's face.

"May I?" Kim's hand was hovering over Sheila's belly. As soon as her hand made contact, her godson rewarded her with a mighty kick. "I think he's using your bladder for a punching bag, Sheila, not a soccer ball."

"You're telling me," Sheila grunted.

"Taking after his mommy already," Drew chuckled. "By the way, Kimberly, I believe you asked us to bring this." He handed her the Kimmunicator. "Now, let's get you home, shall we?"

"Actually, I was hoping you could drop me off at Smarty Mart. There's someone I really need to see."

--

"Download complete," the computer monitor read.

"Perfect," Smite chuckled. "Well, Agent Mann, as of now all of your dirty little secrets are mine." He now had both O'Shea and Mann right where he wanted them. They just didn't know it yet.

--

There was a time when Kim Possible wouldn't be caught dead in Smarty Mart, and to a certain degree that was still true. It's not like she was actually there _shopping,_ after all. After the Lipskys had dropped her off, Kim went to Ron's station wagon and had Wade remotely unlock it so she could stow her duffle bag in the back seat. From there she made a beeline to the pet department. Kim was a woman on a mission, and the object of that mission would be found there. She just hoped that Ron was doing better than he was the last time she saw him. The defeated look he had on his face when he left Go City that night was one she would remember till the day she died, no matter how badly she wanted to forget.

--

All in all Ron Stoppable was having a good day. He was feeling a bit better after that little intervention his 'rents had staged, and the customers were all being really nice, despite how close Christmas was and how frantic the last minute shopping crowd could be. The only thing weighing on him was the fact that Martin Smarty was coming in to see him today, and a visit from the boss usually meant someone was getting fired.

"I'm looking for something in a Monkey Master," a familiar voice behind him said, shaking him from his thoughts. "I want one that's your height with blond hair, freckles, and really sexy ears." When Ron turned around he was practically tackled by a redheaded blur who silenced him with her lips before he could say anything.

"KP?" he gasped when Kim finally released him.

"Surprise!"

"I'll say!" Seeing Kim again was just what the doctor ordered. "Not that I'm complaining, but aren't you five days early?"

"Agent Mann put me to work in the kitchen for standing up to him," Kim explained.

"The poor fools," Ron said with mock seriousness. "They knew not the carnage they were going to unleash."

Kim couldn't help but laugh. Ron joking was more than she had hoped for. "You look better."

"I feel better."

"Ah, there you are, Ronald!"

"At least I did." Ron swallowed hard. Martin Smarty was strolling leisurely into the pet department.

"Kimberly!" Mr. Smarty exclaimed. "Good to see you again."

"You, too, Mr. Smarty." She took a good look at the look of terror on Ron's face. "If you want I can-"

"Nonsense. You can hear this." He gave Ron a stern look. "First of all, Ronald, it's good to see you back on your feet."

"Th-thanks, Mr. Smarty."

"No more working yourself to death, Ronald. Now, down to business."

"Shouldn't we be doing this off the sales floor?" Ron was sweating bullets.

"Whatever for?" Mr. Smarty replied. "Praise in public, and all that."

"Praise?"

"Of course!" Mr. Smarty slapped Ron on the back. "Ronald, this pet department has the highest sales of any store in the company! And those numbers started climbing after you were hired."

Ron let out a visible sigh of relief. Mr. Smarty never blew smoke at people before giving them the boot. "Well, you know, I try, sir."

"You succeed. Look around you, son. All the animals are healthy and happy. A happy pet is more likely to go home with a customer." Mr. Smarty gave Ron a million dollar smile. "You're a real go getter, Ronald. I need people like you in the company. As you know, we have a new Mega Smarty Mart opening in Upperton this April. I want you there to help me open it."

"Really?"

"In fact, I'm putting you in charge of the pet department there. Congratulations, son, you've just been promoted."

"Booyah!" Ron hadn't yelled that particular word in what seemed like an eternity.

"'Booyah, indeed." Mr. Smarty shook Ron's hand. "You'll be starting after construction is complete, probably in February. And of course, we will be giving you a moving bonus as well as a raise."

"You hear that, KP? I'm getting a raise!" A look of confusion crossed Ron's face. "Moving bonus?"

"Well, you could commute form here to Upperton, but I thought it would be easier for you to just move there."

"He'll take the moving bonus." Kim said, the wheels in her head turning.

"I will?" Ron was even more confused.

Mr. Smarty gave Kim a wink. "Excellent. I'll get the ball rolling. Oh, and one more thing." He pulled an envelope from the inner pocket of his sport coat and handed it to Ron.

"What's this?"

"Invitations," Mr. Smarty proudly stated. "I expect to see you two at my New Year's Eve party."

"Bopyah squared," Ron said. "Wait, I'm working the closing shift on New Year's Eve."

"Not anymore you're not," Mr. Smarty replied. "Be sure to bring one of those culinary delights you're so famous for." Mr. Smarty turned and shook Kim's hand. "Kimberly, it was nice seeing you. Congratulations again, Ronald. And Happy Hanukkah."

--

Rick O'Shea knew when it was best to keep out of his father's way, and this was definitely one of those times. His dad was ranting under his breath, every other word punctuated by a string of obscenities. It had been like this since Rick walked into his dad's office. In fact, Rick's presence hadn't even been noticed yet. It wasn't until the elder O'Shea finally put the phone down that he noticed his son standing there.

"What the hell are you doing here, Richard?" he demanded. Then he saw the bandage over his son's nose and his two black eyes. "What happened to you? Did you walk into a wall or something?"

"Nice to see you, too, Pop," Rick muttered. "The kitchen at Fort Campbell got messed up so we all got sent home early, remember? And this," he pointed at his broken nose, "is from a mission we went on."

"Whatever," the old man said with a wave of his hand. "Go do... something that doesn't involve bothering me."

Rick sighed. His dad was in one of his moods. "Where's Mrs. Casey?" Rick would spend hours at a time with Jenn Casey when he would visit the Omni-Tech tower. She was the only person who treated Rick like a person and not their boss's son.

"Gone." Mr. O'Shea sat at his desk and started ruffling through some papers. "She tried to rip me off and I had her brought up on charges." He dropped the papers and looked up. "Now leave me alone. I have more important things to do that play twenty questions with you." _Like figuring out where the hell Smythe is hiding._

--

Forty five minutes after the meeting with Mr. Smarty, Kim and Ron sat in their usual booth at Bueno Nacho. While Rufus burrowed through a burrito, Ron was dealing with the full weight of what his promotion meant.

"I don't think I can do this, KP," he said. "Maybe I should tell Mr. Smarty I changed my mind."

Kim wasn't having it. She took another bite of her salad and looked at her boyfriend. "Look at it this way, RS," she said in all seriousness.

"RS?"

"This is like, a once in a lifetime opportunity." She was flailing her arms around as she spoke. "And do you know how often a once in a lifetime opportunity comes around? That's right! Once! Well, maybe twice but that's only if you're really lucky. This is a big deal, RS. You'll kick yourself later if you let this go."

Ron's jaw was practically on the table. Rufus was rolling on his back laughing at Kim's little speech, as well as his person's reaction to it. "KP, do you have another mind control chip or something?"

"What, you don't recognize a word of what I just said?" She crossed her arms. "Aside from the 'RS' part, that was word for word what you said to me when I was on the fence about joining Fast Track."

Ron hung his head. "Look at how well that turned out."

"Will you stop blaming yourself?" Kim reached across the table and took Ron's hands. "I don't. I mean, it's not your fault that Agent Mann turned out to be such a tyrant. This is a chance for you to make a new start in a new place. And if Mr. Smarty didn't think you were up to it, he wouldn't have given you the promotion. You're ready for this, Ron. You are so ready." Ron gave her a weak grin. "Now why don't we talk about what's really bothering you. Leaving Hana."

Ron closed his eyes. Kim knew him too well. "I don't know if I can just leave her behind, KP. She's the second most important person in my life."

Kim smiled at her guy. "Ron, if there was a 'World's Greatest Big Brother Award,' you'd win it every year. But look at it this way, if we had gone to college in another city or state, you would've had to leave her behind then, too. Look, Upperton isn't that far away. We can visit her or she can visit us. Tell you what, we can look for a two bedroom apartment so she can stay with us overnight if she wants. Besides, we can use that room as a home office when she's not there."

"Thanks, KP," Ron said with his usual lopsided grin. Then what she said registered in his brain. "Wait, 'we'?"

"Why not?" Kim asked. "I'm leaving Fast Track soon. I hope. And I've been thinking about trying Upperton's prelaw program. Now if I have my choice of sharing a dorm room with a roommate on campus, or living with my boyfriend off campus, well, the choice if obvious."

"Y-you really want to live with me?"

"Duh, Ron. I love you." She squeezed his hands. "We've been apart for five months. That's too long. I don't ever want to be separated from you again."

"Your dad will blow a gasket," Ron said with a bit of fear, remembering the black hole threats.

"It's not his decision, Ron, it's ours. We're nineteen years old; we're adults now. If Dad doesn't like it, that's his problem."

Ron's smile stretched from ear to ear. "When do you want to start apartment hunting?"

"Later." The smile faded from Kim's face. "Now what's the sitch, Ron? Why did you decide to quit saving the world?"

--

Kim walked through the front door with a satisfied grin on her face. "I'm home!"

"How's Ron doing, honey?" her mother asked from the living room.

"Better. I think I got through to him." _At least, I hope I did. _

"What did you say to him?"

Kim sat beside her mom on the couch. "I told him the truth; that I can't save the world without him. And," Kim took a deep breath. "We made a decision today."

Anne Possible's face lit up like her house on Christmas Eve. "James! Kimmie and Ron made a decision!"

"Well, Kimmie-Cub," her father said as he hurried in from the den. "What would you like to tell us?" His face wore a look of eager anticipation.

"Well," Kim was confused by her parents' reactions. "Ron got promoted today. He's going to run the pet department at the new Mega Smarty Mart when it opens in Upperton next spring. And he's going to be moving there. I'm moving in with him."

"That's it?" The excitement on Anne's face quickly faded.

"And before you say anything, Dad, it was my idea! No threatening Ron with black holes!"

"No, no threats, honey." Even her dad seemed crestfallen.

"Is everything all right?" Kim was more than a little confused. "I was at least expecting a lecture about separate bedrooms with multiple locks on the doors." _Or getting fitted for a chastity belt._

_"_Nothing's wrong, Kim," her mother said quickly. "Nothing at all." Anne decided to change the subject. "There's pasta in the fridge if you're hungry."

"Okaaaaaay." Kim grabbed her duffle bag. "I think I'll go upstairs and unpack."

As soon as Kim was out of earshot, Anne let out a disappointed groan.

"Be patient, honey," James said. "There's still plenty of time. Until then, maybe I should have that black hole talk with Ronald..."

"James, don't you dare."

--

All files were backed up, as were all traces of his presence at Omni-Tech. Smite allowed himself a small grin as he took a final look at what had been his home and work area for the last eleven months. It was time to go. He was taking a chance by coming back to Omni-Tech, but it was well worth it. He wanted to see O'Shea's smug face when he delivered his ultimatum.

"Smythe!" a grating voice bellowed. On cue Bradley O'Shea stormed in like a bull in a china shop. He saw that Smite was getting ready to leave. "Just where the hell do you think you're going, Smythe?"

"Wherever I want, you old blowhard," Smite retorted. In the blink of an eye he had grabbed the elder O'Shea by the collar and slammed him up against a wall. "I'm done here, old man. And there's nothing you can do to stop me."

"Nothing, huh? How soon you forget." O'Shea withdrew a keychain sized device from his pocket and pressed a blue button. After Smite was fully restored the previous year, he had tried to escape. O'Shea's people made sure that if Smite ever tried anything that the boss didn't like, he could take immediate action. Only this time, when the button was pressed a current of electricity shot from Smite's hand and through O'Shea.

"Oh I'm sorry," Smite taunted. "I forgot to mention that I've been rewiring that little kill switch you had built into me. Try to shut me down, and it'll shock you instead." Smite released his former captor, letting him fall to the floor like a sack of potatoes. "I assume Mann ratted me out?" O'Shea only nodded. "By the way, Mrs. Casey was innocent. I just wanted her out of the way. And in case you're wondering, I took the nanotronium power cell."

"Why... t-tell..."

"Because there's not a damn thing you can do to me, old man," Smite laughed. "Reveal me, and reveal yourself. I have all of your dirty little secrets right here." He tapped a finger against the side of his head. "I can out all the skeletons in your closet to the media and law enforcement within a minute if you try anything. I'm sure Global Justice would love to hear about how you've been buying up weapons and equipment they've taken from super villains over the years. I mean, that's how you got me in the first place. As well as this," he picked a CD-ROM up off his desk. "Plans for some of the lame brained stuff Drakken came up with. I'm sure I could make some of it work though." He put the CD in his jacket pocket.

"You won't get away with this, Smythe," O'Shea feebly added.

"Don't call me that!" Smite practically screamed.

"What should I call you then?" O'Shea was pulling himself to his feet. "The name Drakken gave you? Or your designation? Are you going to go around calling yourself Syntho-drone 901 again?"

"Thanks to you, I think Syntho-droid 1 would be more appropriate," Smite said with a sneer. "But you're right, 'Erik' just doesn't sound threatening enough, so I decided to take a page from your book. From now on you can call me Smite. Which is exactly what I'll do to you if you get in my way." Smite gathered up the briefcase that held the remains of his old body and looked behind him. "Thanks for the android body, by the way. It's nice to know that a simple puncture won't take me offline again." Smite was out the door in the blink of an eye, confident that never again would he be Bradley O'Shea's slave.

O'Shea took out his cell phone, hit the speed dial, and gingerly held it to his ear. "Mann, we have a problem."


	8. Chapter 8

_Disney owns the characters, I'm just taking them for a test drive._

_--_

Kim Possible was more content than she could ever remember being. She was lying on the living room couch with her new All Star Edition Pandaroo nestled firmly in her arms, while she herself was being held by Ron Stoppable. The fact that it was Christmas Eve and the family had just finished their yearly traditions was an added bonus.

Ron, meanwhile was watching his lady relax, the look of joy on her face and the squeal of excitement she let out when she opened her present still fresh in his mind. It took Ron months to find that particular Cuddle Buddy, due in no small part to the fact that it was a limited edition. He had to ask Mr. Paisley, the first person Team Possible ever helped, for assistance in finding it, something the avid collector was more than happy to do for the young woman who saved him all those years ago. It wasn't a cheap purchase by any stretch of the imagination, but to Ron it was money well spent. He knew Kim missed her old Pandaroo terribly, but it had been lost when the Lorwardian walker crashed into the Possible home during the invasion. _The Ron-man shoots and scores!_ he thought. _Wait till she gets the big present_.

"KP?"

"Hmmmm?" came the sleepy reply.

"I have one more present for you." There was no response. "KP?" Rufus climbed up to Ron's shoulder and mimed being asleep. "Out like a light, huh? I guess it'll have to wait." Ron slowly and carefully extracted himself from his girlfriend's grip. He bent down, gently kissed her cheek, and said "Merry Christmas, KP."

"Ronald," he heard James Possible say.

Ron held his finger to his lips and let out a quiet "Shhhhhh. Kim's asleep."

"I take it the launch was scrubbed."

"Yeah," Ron said in a disappointed tone. "I guess I'll try tomorrow."

James gave Ron a bit of a smirk. "Maybe we can help you with that."

--

Smite sat quietly in his Middleton lair watching the end of _Snowman Hank _for the fifth time. He loved that special, but he didn't know why. "Probably something leftover from my original programming," he said to himself. But he didn't mind. There were few things Smite truly enjoyed, and this was one of them. "Something to thank my 'dear old dad' for if I ever see him again." Thoughts of revenge against Drakken and Shego didn't last long, partially because they were no longer active as super villains. Even after Smite's research discovered that Shego was, in fact, the owner and operator of the firm that made the security system for the Go City Neurological Research Institute, the very security system that kept him from obtaining the synaptic mapper, his thoughts of revenge just faded like memories of a dream after waking. Smite just chalked it up to lingering loyalty to his creator. "Let them have their day," he said to himself. "They can all consider this little reprieve I'm giving them a Christmas present from me."

--

Kim happily strolled up to the front door of the Stoppable home on Christmas Day. Dean and Dana had dropped by with Hana earlier that morning, and were going to watch the holiday parade downtown with Kim's 'rents and the Tweebs. For some reason, she and Ron were left to their own devices. That was a bit odd, as it was usually assumed that she and Ron would go along. Kim didn't think too much about it, though, since she now had a prime opportunity for some extra special Ron-shine and she wasn't going to let it go to waste.

The front door opened as she was about to knock. "KP!" Ron shrieked in surprise. "I, uh, I was just about to come see you."

"Beat you to it," Kim replied right before planting a junior prom dance floor level kiss on her boyfriend's unsuspecting lips.

As much as he didn't want to, Ron pulled away, which elicited a confused look from Kim. "I got another present to give you, KP," he nervously said.

"So do I," she responded in a husky voice.

"I'm serious, Kim. Come in out of the cold and follow me."

Kim hung up her coat and went with Ron into the living room. She was getting more than a little irritated. True her guy could be a little oblivious at times, but never before did he show that level of thick headed syndrome when it came to this. "Okay, Ron, I'm here. Now spill."

Ron reached into his pocket and pulled out a yellow gift card envelope with the Bueno Nacho logo on it.

"Oh no," Kim groaned.

"Oh yes!"

"Not Bueno Nacho Bueno Bucks, Ron. You gave me that last year."

"Along with that necklace," he corrected. "If memory served you liked the necklace. I mean, you're wearing it, after all."

Kim looked down at the small silver necklace. It had a heart shaped pendant hanging from it with their initials inscribed on it.

"This is a tradition, KP," Ron explained. "The year I didn't give you the Bueno Bucks, what happened?"

"You wound up stranded at the North Pole with Drakken because you went to stop one of his 'take over the world' plots without me so I could spend Christmas with the fam." Kim still thought that was the sweetest things Ron had ever done for her, even if she was terrified that she'd lost him after finding the empty escape pods. "I see where you're going with this, Ron, but that can't happen again. Drew retired, remember?"

"Well, what if it's some other bad guy, then?"

Kim knew Ron wasn't going to give up on this. "All right." She took the envelope from Ron. "Let's see how much it's worth since I just know you're going to want to go out for nacos tomorrow." Instead of the normal yellow gift card, Kim saw a plain white piece of plastic. On it was written a message that read "What do you say, KP, you want to give this marriage thing a shot?" Kim dropped the card and brought her hands to her now wide open mouth. When she looked at Ron, she saw that he was down on one knee offering a small, open box to her. In that box was a simple gold band with a sparkling diamond set in it. At that moment Kim lost all conscious control of her body. Just last month she had told Hana that if Ron ever popped the question, she would accept in a heartbeat. Now was the moment of truth; he just proposed and several heartbeats had passed. All she could do was stare at Ron's face; a face that wore a look of hope combined with abject terror.

One word. That's all she needed to say was one simple monosyllabic word, but she couldn't get her mouth or larynx to cooperate. Kim could feel the tears streaming freely down her cheeks when she remembered that actions speak louder than words. In a monumental exhibition of pure willpower, she forced herself to move; Kim pulled Ron to his feet, threw her arms around his shoulders and kissed him with an intensity that they had never before experienced.

"Was that a yes?" Ron asked when they finally broke apart.

"Yes it's a yes!" Kim practically screamed. "What other answer could I give you, Ron?"

With a shaky hand, Ron took the ring from its box and slipped it on Kim's finger. Kim started to laugh and sob at the same time as she again flung herself into her new fiancee's arms. They just stood there for a while, holding each other. Finally, Kim pulled herself from Ron's embrace and dried her eyes. "This calls for a celebration," she said.

Ron cocked an eyebrow. "I assume you have something in mind."

"As a matter of fact I do." She had that look on her face again. "And we are way overdressed for it."

--

Bradley O'Shea sat quietly in his den. Buying the remains of Syntho-drone 901 had turned out to be more trouble than it was worth. But then again, he had no way of knowing that this burned out sack of plasm could be made functional again. Erik, Smite or whatever he was calling himself now had O'Shea by the throat, and they both knew it. If O'Shea went to the authorities, he would wind up in jail. The same thing would happen if he tried to find Smite, or if he tried to have the charges dropped against Jenn Casey. O'Shea had believed Smite when he was told that Mrs. Casey had been trying to steal his secrets. Now she sat in a jail cell on trumped up charges that O'Shea knew he couldn't drop without incriminating himself. Jenn Casey, the closest thing in the world Bradley O'Shea had to a friend, was going to have to take one for the team.

"Sorry, Jenn," he said to himself. "It's you or me, and I'm not going down."

--

Kim and Ron happily walked down the street towards Kim's house; his arm around her shoulders and hers around his waist. They spent a good hour cuddling in Ron's bed after they celebrated their engagement, but they knew they couldn't stay there forever. It was with great reluctance that they got up, got dressed, and went out the door to tell their families about their impending nuptials. No date had been set, and they probably wouldn't start any real planning until Kim came back for good from Fast Track, but to Kim and Ron it didn't matter. They were going to get married and spend their lives together.

Kim started to lightly chuckle. "Care to let me in on the joke, KP?"

"Do you remember that promise we made when we were seven?" she asked.

"Which one? We made a lot of promises back then."

"It was when we were looking at your parents' wedding album," she explained. "I made you promise me that when I got married, you'd be my man of honor."

"Oh yeah." Ron was laughing now. "And I made you promise to be my best woman if I ever got hitched. Guess we'll both be breaking that promise."

"Oh I don't know." Kim hugged Ron tightly. "What is the groom if not the man of honor? And I'm pretty sure the bride would be considered the best woman." Kim looked at her fiancee and smiled. It was hard to believe that just a year and a half ago she was afraid that she would wind up going to the junior prom with her just a friend. Had she just seen what was right in front of her the whole time, she could have avoided a lot of hurt and confusion. But then again, had she done that she might not be where she is now. _No,_ she thought. _This is how it should be. It took us a while to get here, but we're here now. I wouldn't change this for the world._

Kim and Ron came to the house just in time to see the Possible mini van pull up. "Kimmie-Cub! Ronald!" James Possible called. "You missed a good parade."

"You can tell us about it later, Dad," Kim replied with an airy tone.

Anne saw the way her daughter and Ron were walking and interacting. _I sure hope he finally asked,_ she thought. _I don't think I can handle another false alarm._ She glanced over at Dana Stoppable and could tell that Ron's mother was thinking the same thing. "Why don't we all go in out of the cold."

"Good idea, honey," James said.

Kim and Ron didn't answer, they just walked right by everyone through the front door.

"What's with them?" Jim asked.

"Yeah, it's like their brains switched off," Tim added.

"It's called love, boys," Dean Stoppable chuckled as he took Hana out of her car seat. "Just wait till it's your turn."

Dana was the first person to see the light glint off of the diamond that now had a home on Kim's left hand. "Well, it looks like my Ronnie finally popped the question."

The two families exploded into a flurry of hugs, kisses and congratulations. Even the Tweebs got caught up in it, happy that the man they had long seen as their big brother was now finally going to be just that. After a few minutes, the meaning of what Kim's soon to be mother-in-law said hit her. "Wait, you knew?"

"We all knew, honey," Anne said.

"We didn't know," Jim said with a bit of annoyance.

"Yeah, why didn't anyone tell us?" Tim demanded.

"Because we knew you couldn't keep it to yourselves, boys," Anne said.

"Awwwwwwww. We could too have kept it a secret," they both groused.

"Ron came over right after your video call last month to ask for our blessing," Anne explained.

"I've never seen a man more anxious," James added. "Like your Uncle Slim would say, he was as nervous as a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs!"

Kim gave Ron's hand a squeeze as she kissed him on the cheek. "You did that for us?"

"Yeah," Ron replied sheepishly. "I wanted to do this right, you know?"

Kim looked at her 'rents and soon to be in-laws. "And that explains the whole first name basis thing then."

"We kind of had to settle for that one," Anne said with a laugh. "Ron just wasn't ready to call me 'Mom' yet." She gave Ron a stern look. "But don't think I'm giving up on that, young man."

"The same goes for you, Kimmie," Dana added.

At that moment Hana leapt from her father's lap and ran over to Kim. "Sister," she happily proclaimed.

Kim picked her up and hugged her tightly. "Yeah, Han, I'm gonna be your big sister."

"Kimberly," Dean interjected. "I think it's safe to say that you've been her big sister since we brought her home."

--

Max Casey stared blankly at the screen of his laptop. His wife had asked him to go to Kim Possible's website and ask for help, but she insisted that he wait until after the new year. "This is what they do, Jenn," Max told her. "I'm sure they'll understand."

"No, honey, these people deserve time with their families, too. I can wait a few more days." That exchange was the day before Christmas Eve and Max had, begrudgingly, followed his wife's instructions.

So he sat, looking at the setup of Kim's site. _Just a few more days,_ Max thought. _Then we'll get that creep O'Shea for this. _Max still didn't understand why Jenn insisted on contacting Kim's partner for help instead of her. _Whoever this Stoppable guy is, he'd better be good. For Jenn's sake._

--

Kim sat at the kitchen table with her mother. Ron and her future in-laws had long since gone home to start calling their extended family with the big news. Kim herself had just gotten off the phone with her cousin Joss, who was thrilled beyond belief that Ron was going to be family now. Anne noted the look of pure joy on her daughter's face. She felt bad for Kim, knowing that as soon as the real prep work for the wedding started and the reality of the whole sitch hit her, she wouldn't be quite as ecstatic as she was now. "My little girl is all grown up," Anne wistfully said.

"I've been grown up for a while now," Kim replied.

"I know," Anne sighed. "But that doesn't mean I had to admit it. You're going to move out, get married, start a family of your own..." Anne trailed off. "Speaking of that."

Kim's eyes grew to the size of dinner plates. This was not a discussion she wanted to be having right now, especially with her father in the next room. The last thing she wanted was her fiancee launched on the next rocket to the nearest black hole.

Anne took her daughter's hand. "Calm down, Kimmie, I'm not going to give any lectures." Kim visibly relaxed. "I'm not blind, you know. I've had my suspicions that the two of you have been...active. I just hope you've been careful."

"We have been," Kim replied, remembering how pleasantly surprised she was when she found out that Ron had been, at his father's insistence, carrying protection with him on every mission and date they went on since junior prom.

"Good. I'm not ready to be a grandma just yet." Anne gave her daughter a wry grin. "Don't get me wrong, though, I do want grandkids. And so does Dana." She chuckled as her daughter turned the same shade of red as her hair.

--

Marcus Mann couldn't believe what he just read. Smite had emailed him with a detailed explanation of his next robbery, and basically challenged Mann to stop him. Mann had been in this business long enough to know a setup when he saw one. He suspected that Smite had some dirt on him and was just looking for an excuse to share it with the right people. So Mann now had a choice, he could either let Smite steal the polarized conductor nodes or try to stop him, and in so doing, end his career.

But Mann was shrewd; he knew there was a third option. Gather intel, get the troops assembled, and find a way to herd Smite into a trap while he tried to find some way of washing his hands of this mess. The longer he could keep Smite's identity a secret, as well as his connection to Bradley O'Shea, the more time he had to come up with a way out. Maybe, if he was lucky, he could eliminate Smite without anyone being the wiser. Mann rubbed the bridge of his nose. There were times when he regretted ever meeting O'Shea, and this was one of those times. The ringing of the telephone shook him back to reality.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Daddy!" the happy voice of Abigail Mann said on the other end of the line. "Merry Christmas."

A real smile crossed Mann's lips. "Hi, sweetheart," he said to his sixteen year old daughter.

Abby had no way of knowing just how much this call meant to her dad. "I have some leftover turkey and pie with your name on it. I'll be over on fifteen minutes since I know you didn't have a good Christmas dinner. You really need to get out more, Dad."

"You're right, Abby," he chuckled. "Do you have enough for two? I could sure use the company."

"But of course," she proudly declared. "I think dinner with Dad is a great way to celebrate the holidays, don't you?"

"I can't think of anything better, pumpkin. I'll see you soon." Mann set the phone down, that smile still lingering on his lips. Abby was the only good thing to come out of his disastrous first marriage. Actually, she was the only good thing to come out of any of his marriages.

--

Martin Smarty's New Year's Eve bash was _THE_ social event of the Tri-City, and Kim Possible was in attendance. Since it was a formal event, Kim wore her other LBD, the long black dress. Ron, too, was dressed to the nines tonight, wearing the tuxedo Canadian Joe had given him. He was even wearing real dress shoes for a change. After they arrived at the ballroom in the Smarty mansion, Ron made sure that his new and improved five cheese lasagna had a good place on the buffet table, and soon they were mingling. It was then that Kim saw a face she hadn't been expecting; one she could have gone without.

"Hi, K!" Bonnie Rockwaller said with her usual flare. "How did you get in here? Did Mr. Smarty open the party up to the peons this year?"

"Nice to see you, too, B," Kim said as she crossed her arms. Suddenly, Bonnie's hand shot out and grabbed Kim's left hand.

"What is this?!" she demanded.

"An engagement ring," Kim said in a smug tone.

"That loser proposed?"

"He's not a loser, Bonnie, and yes he did."

"Junior!" Bonnie stormed over to her boyfriend, Senor Senior Junior, who was standing by his father at the buffet table. Apparently Senor Senior Senior still played poker with Mr. Smarty. "How come she has an engagement ring and I don't?"

Ron came over to Kim and handed her a glass of punch. "I wouldn't want to be Junior tonight," was all he said.

Mr. Smarty, meanwhile, was having a pleasant conversation with his old friend Samantha Hill, who had taken a piece of a rather interesting looking five cheese lasagna and was about to sample it. As soon as the food hit her tongue she was torn between two urges; to immediately gulp it down and take another bite, or to savor it and fully explore its exquisite taste and texture. Ultimately, Sam's first instinct won out and she took another huge bite. "This, " she said after swallowing her food, "this is divine! Where did you get this?"

Instead of answering, Mr. Smarty saw Ron and Kim. "Ronald!" he called out. "Come on over, son. Someone wants to talk to you about your cooking."

"You made this?" Sam asked when Ron walked up.

"Heh, yeah." Ron was a little nervous. He couldn't tell if this woman liked his cooking or not.

"This is, by far, one of the most incredible things I've ever tasted!" She took another big bite. "Where did you get the recipe?"

"I came up with it myself."

"Really?"

"It's just a simple five cheese lasagna," Ron said, waving it off.

"You're half right," Sam insisted. "This is a five cheese lasagna, but it is far from simple."

"Where are my manners?" Mr. Smarty said. "Samantha Hill, meet Ronald Stoppable and his girlfriend Kimberly Possible. Ronald's going to head up the pet department at the new Mega Smarty Mart this spring."

Sam laughed as she shook Kim's hand. "Small world," she said. "My father told me all about how you trashed his kitchen."

Kim turned a deep shade of red. "Mr. Hill's your father?"

"Don't worry about it, Kim. Dad thought it was funny as hell."

"Actually, Ms. Hill," Ron started to say,

"Sam."

"Sam," Ron continued. "Kim here is my fiancee, not my girlfriend."

"Congratulations, you two!" Mr. Smarty said. "I hope you'll consider putting me on the guest list."

"After everything you've done for Ron, how could we not?" Kim smiled.

"Back to the lasagna," Sam insisted. "I'll bet your cooking instructor is proud of you for this."

"I'm self taught," Ron said.

Sam got a glint in her eye. She looked over at Mr. Smarty, who gave her a small nod. "Kim, can I borrow your guy for a moment? Ron, walk with me talk with me." She put an arm around Ron's shoulder and took him off into the crowd.

Mr. Smarty had a very pleased look on his face. "Looks like we'll need to do a bit of creative scheduling with Ronald come the fall."

"Why is that?" Kim asked.

"Because I think your fiancee just got into cooking school." Mr. Smarty saw the confused look on Kim's face. "Samantha runs the Upperton Institute for the Culinary Arts," he explained.

"Did you plan this?"

"Well, I hoped they would bump into each other," Mr. Smarty replied. "Why else do you think I asked Ronald to bring a dish? Well, other than the fact that his cooking is to die for. I believe in playing to one's strengths, Kimberly. In my opinion, Ronald would do better in a culinary school than a four year university."

"You do realize that when Ron graduates he'll be leaving Smarty Mart," Kim pointed out.

"I still have a place for him in the company," Mr. Smarty replied. "Ever been to Arthur's?"

"I went with my friend Monique last month. The food there is wonderful. Why?"

"Who do you think owns the chain?"

Before Kim could respond, she heard several loud beeps coming from her purse. "Would you excuse me for a moment?" She made for the French doors that opened to the balcony as she fished a small rectangular device form her purse; it had the letters GJ on it, and below that were the Greek letter omega and the number 12. She opened it, took out the earpiece, and put it in her ear. "This is Possible," she said in a slightly irritated tone. "What's the sitch?"

"Cadet Agent Possible, this is Special Agent Vance," a female voice replied. "Leave is cancelled, I'm afraid. Report to the Middleton airfield tomorrow morning at 0700 hours for pick up."

_This is so not happening._ "Can you tell me what's going on?"

"Not on an open channel, Cadet Agent," Vance replied. "All I can tell you is something is about to hit the fan."

"Copy that," Kim sighed. "Orders received and understood. Possible out." She had just taken out the earpiece when Ron found her.

"KP I'm going to cooking school!" he shouted. Rufus, who had been munching on a wedge of cheese on Ron's shoulder was squeaking happily. Ron saw the sad look on Kim's face. "Kim, what's wrong?"

"I'm being recalled. I leave tomorrow morning at seven." She hung her head. "I'm so sorry, Ron."

Ron quietly took Kim in his arms. "Not your fault, KP," he said. "We just need to make the most of the time we have left." He lowered his lips to hers and kissed her gently, but that kiss soon escalated.

"Let's get out of here," she said when they parted. "We need to say goodbye the right way."

--

Instead of the normal private jet, Kim was met by a Global Justice high speed hover transport. Ron was there to see Kim off, as well as her family. After her tearful farewells to her 'rents and the Tweebs, she came to Ron and kissed him with all the passion she could muster. Which was quite a bit. She didn't care that she was giving her family and those on the hover jet quite a show. "I love you," she said when she finally released Ron. "I don't know when I'll be back, but I hope it'll be soon. Then we can start looking for a place to live, and start planning the wedding."

"I love you, too, KP. See you soon." He kissed her on the nose, squeezed her hands, and let her go. He watched in silence as she boarded the hover jet. _There goes the future Mrs. Stoppable,_ he thought. _Oh yeah, life is loving the Ron-Man._

"Was that little display really necessary?" Marcus Mann demanded as Kim boarded.

_Great, I have to deal with him the whole flight._ "I was just saying goodbye to my fiancee," she said curtly.

"Your what?"

"Fiancee. Ron asked me to marry him and I said yes. Not that difficult a concept."

Mann took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. "Just take your seat." The last thing Mann needed to see was someone Kim's age getting married. She was only a few years older than his own daughter, and he definitely didn't want to think about Abby even dating, let alone getting engaged.

Kim found a seat by her roommate Lynn Corrigable. Kim was surprised by this as she usually had the plane to herself. Now there were about two dozen cadet agents all being transported back at once. "Nice rock, Roomie," Lynn said when she saw Kim's ring.

"Thanks," Kim smiled.

"You know what this means, right?" Lynn asked playfully. "My chances of stealing your man have gone from 'slim to none' to 'not a snowball's chance in hell.'" That got a laugh out of Kim. "Seriously, Kim, I'm happy for you. I know I've made jokes about taking him away, and I do think he's damn cute, but I know there's no way. You've got over fourteen years on me." Lynn's smile faded a bit. "I just hope I get that lucky someday." Lynn didn't have the best luck with men. Every guy she ever dated wound up cheating on her. Once, she was the other woman and she didn't even know it until it was too late.

"You will, Lynn. I know it." Kim looked around the cabin of the hover jet. "Do you know what's going on here?"

"Not a clue, Kim," Lynn replied. "But Mann's acting like someone lit a fire under his butt. Something big's going down, Kim. And I don't think it's anything good."

--

Ron had worked on New Year's Day the previous year, so doing the same thing this year was no big, especially since he had seen Kim off earlier that morning. Hanging with the critters in the pet department usually helped cheer him up when he was feeling a little down. As soon as Ron hit the road, the station wagon's Ronlink went off. "What's up, Wade?"

"A hit on the site," Wade said. "A prisoner at the Go City Jail named Jennifer Casey your needs help in proving her innocence."

"Figures that Kim just left," Ron said sullenly.

"Actually, Ron, she asked for your help, specifically, not Kim's."


	9. Chapter 9

_Disney owns the characters, I'm just taking them for a test drive._

--

Ron Stoppable sat quietly as a tall woman was led in. She was a darker haired woman who, even shackled and wearing an orange Go City Jail jumpsuit, carried herself with a graceful dignity. She kind of reminded Ron of both his mother and his soon to be mom-in-law. "Thank you for agreeing to see me, Mr. Stoppable," she said after she was seated behind the glass partition. The fact that he was called 'mister' was surprise enough, but that someone got his name right was almost too much.

"Uh, you can call me Ron," he said, rubbing the back of his neck. "To use an overused cliche, 'Mr. Stoppable' is my father."

Rufus, who was standing beside a Mark I Kimmunicator that Ron had brought with him so Wade could join the conversation, lightly smacked himself in the forehead and muttered "Oh boy."

"So, what can we do for you, Mrs. Casey?"

"First you can dispense with the formalities and call me Jenn," she said with a smile. "I need your help, Ron. I'm looking at a lengthy prison sentence for industrial espionage, and I didn't do anything except back up the yearly performance evals."

"Perhaps you should start from the beginning," Wade, who had just logged in, suggested.

Mrs. Casey took a breath. "I work, well worked, for Omni Tech. I started as a low level administrator and worked my way up. Eventually I got a job working directly for the CEO, Bradley O'Shea, as the head of personnel."

"O'Shea," Ron pondered. "Why does that name sound familiar?"

"Probably because his son Rick is in the same vocational school that your partner's going to," Mrs. Casey said in a slightly annoyed voice. She had heard that Ron Stoppable was easily distracted, but it hadn't even been five minutes yet! "Getting back to why you're here, like I said, I was just backing up the yearly evaluations. I put them on a USB drive, like I always do. The next thing I know I have security banging on my office door, along with the police, saying that I had downloaded sensitive contracts and schematics for some of our newer projects." Mrs. Casey hung her head a little. "Bradley was right there to see me off. After fifteen years he was ready to believe that I'd just betray him like that."

Rufus put his little paw against the glass. "Sorry," he lamented. This got a weak grin from Mrs. Casey.

"It's funny," she said with a forced laugh. "He always said he trusted me more than anyone else on staff since I never kissed up or tried to weasel my way to the top. I'm a damn hard worker, Ron. I take pride in what I do. That place never ran smoother than when I was in charge of personnel. Look where it got me."

"Why would anyone want to set you up?" Ron asked.

"I've thought about that. About a year ago Bradley hired a new personal assistant, a guy named Smythe. This kid came out of nowhere and, just like that, was Bradley's right hand man. I was never given any sort of paperwork on him, either. Bradley said that Smythe was working for him directly and not Omni-Tech. No one knows anything about Smythe, not even his first name! I thought I was being paranoid, but he always looked like he was up to something and that he didn't like me very much." This got Wade's fingers dancing over his keyboard. "If you're trying to hack your way into the Omni-Tech database, you're wasting your time."

"I'm in!" Wade exclaimed, much to the shock of Mrs. Casey.

"How?"

"Because Wade is da man!" Ron said. It was the only answer that needed to be given.

"From here I should be able to get into Mr. O'Shea's personal records," Wade said. "That's weird. There's nothing on anyone named Smythe anywhere at all. And with no first name I can't do any kind of a global search. It's like he doesn't even exist. The only thing I can find is a phone extension in the Omni-Tech R&D bay for an E. Smythe. Gimme a sec while I check this out." Wade continued typing; he was in the zone. "No way!"

"What did you find, Wade?"

"You know how I've been tracing the IP addresses the Friends of Kim Possible have been using to bash you?" the young genius asked. "Well, I found the source last night. A workstation at Omni-Tech. The same work station that this Smythe guy uses." The wheels in Wad'e brilliant mind went into overdrive. "Ron, have you noticed that 'Smythe' and 'Smite' sound an awful lot alike."

"You know, 'smite' is Mr. O'Shea's favorite word." Mrs. Casey said, impressed with the young man on the Kimmunicator screen.

"So you think that this Smythe dude is the same guy I tangled with last month? The dude with the robot arm?"

"Robot arm?" Mrs. Casey's eyes opened wide. "Fifteen months ago we started a new project to build a fully functional android. We tried to get Dr. Vivian Porter on board for the project but she refused. We had to build the whole thing from scratch. The project was abandoned about the same time that Smythe came on board."

"Wait, let me ge get this straight," Ron said. His head was starting to hurt. "So this Smythe guy is really a robot, he's the thief we've been looking for since November, and he's behind the people who've been going out of their way to make me feel like a moldy naco?"

"Pretty much," Wade replied. "Hang on, let me see if I can pull up an image of him from the security cameras." Wade's fingers moved almost faster than the eye could see, bypassing firewalls and breaking encryptions. Finally, his goal in sight, he punched the final sequence of keys, bringing up an image of Bradley O'Shea walking beside a man who looked about the same age as Ron. He wore a well tailored business suit, had nicely styled dark hair, and a strong jaw. "No way," Wade said in a hushed tone. "It couldn't be." He put the picture on the Kimmunicator screen. "Is this the guy, Jenn?"

"That's him," she said with venom in her voice. "That's Smythe."

"No it's not," Ron muttered in disbelief. He picked up the Kimmunicator and scrutinized the image. "That's Erik! That's Syntho-drone 901!"

Mrs. Caey was confused. "What's a ...syntho-drone?"

"A fluid filled automaton," Wade explained. "And 901 was so advanced that it could pass for a seventeen year old male."

Bad memories flooded Ron's mind. This is one thing he never fully forgave Drew Lipsky for. "Dr. Drakken used Erik to keep Kim distracted so he could launch those Diablo robots without her busting in and foiling him for like, the trillionth time. It almost worked, too, except I kinda stumbled onto the plot. I got KP to investigate instead of staying at the prom with the syntho-dud. I don't think Erik was too happy about that. I mean, he did try to kill me for it."

"That explains it then," Mrs. Casey said. "The reason I asked for you specifically is because I would hear Smythe cursing your name on a daily basis. I figured you stopped him from doing something. Hopefully you can stop him again."

"I have some good news for you, Jenn," Wade announced. "I guess he decided that he didn't need to cover his tracks for this one, but it looks like Erik remotely downloaded those contracts to your USB drive from his terminal. I'm forwarding this information to your lawyer."

"Bless you, Wade." Mrs. Casey finally was able to relax. When she looked up, she saw Ron's serious face. "Something wrong?"

"How did he come back? I mean, Rufus bit a hole in his leg and he drained, and that was before the tower he was standing on went kablooey. It doesn't make sense."

"What are you going to do, Ron?" Wade asked.

"Talk to an expert." It was time to pay a visit to Drew Lipsky.

--

Smite stepped back to admire his handiwork. The last three nights had gone off without a hitch. It would be at least another few days before the rightful owners of his latest acquisitions would notice that their stuff was missing. He had everything he needed, now he just needed to put them together into something he could use. That didn't mean he was going to stop the thefts. No, he needed to do something to try to get Mann to take the bait. But then again, Mann was responding exactly the way Smite expected he would. If Marcus Mann thought he could lure Smite into a trap, he was out of luck. Smite was looking to set a trap of his own.

He had the Middleton airfield under surveillance, and saw Kim Possible leave on a Global Justice hover transport. He also saw her engaged in a very intense game of tonsil hockey with Stoppable. If Smite had a stomach, that sight would've made him sick to it. He never loved Kim; in fact he was pretty sure that he wasn't even capable of that particular emotion in the first place, so the fact that Kim and Ron were very obviously involved didn't bother him in the least. But if the loser truly loved Possible, maybe Smite could use that against him. Smite owed Ron for ruining Drakken's plot, which led to him being taken offline. Come to think of it, he still owed that gross little mole rat for biting a hole in his leg. Smite decided that it was time to up the ante; time to drop in on Fort Campbell. Both Possible and Mann had a lot to answer for.

--

"Wait, you mean slime face is still running around?" Sheila Gordon-Lipsky asked in disbelief. "You're kidding, right? I mean, those syntho things were a colossal failure! Worse than some of Drew's other hair brained ideas."

"What have I told you about hurting with words, Sheila?" her husband whined.

"Um, I know this is gonna sound weird coming from me, but can we focus here?" Ron didn't have time for this. From the jail he had made a beeline for the Lipsky home back in Middleton, grateful that Sheila had already gone on maternity leave and that Drew had left work early to pick up more chocolate chocolate chip ice cream and pickles for his wife. "I saw the pictures, Drew. Erik's still umbrellatory."

"That's ambulatory, buffoon" Sheila corrected.

"Whatever," Ron sighed. "The point is, he's up and around in some kind of swanky new android bod. And he's been ripping stuff off from tech firms. Last month we caught him trying to break into the Go City brain place."

"The Go City Neurological Research Institute?" Sheila asked. "I heard about that. The security imrpovements we made stopped him cold." A concerned look grew on Sheila's face and she tentatively rested her hand on her very pregnant stomach. "Wait, if it is 901, then he could come here!"

"He won't, "Drew confidently said. "His programming won't let him hurt us no matter how much he wants to. He'll just automatically forget about it."

"Are you sure?" Sheila was getting worried now. "He could come here and hurt our baby!"

At that moment, both the Ronlink and the Mark I Kimmunicator that Ron had set on the Lipsky's coffee table went off. Wade was on the Ronlink, and Dr. Director, who Ron had asked Wade to contact, was on the Kimmunicator. "Wade's brought me up to speed on the current situation," the head of Global Justice said. "Believe it or not, this actually answers a lot of questions. Mr. Lipsky, do you have any idea how 901 could have been restored?"

Drew sat on the couch next to his wife and took her hand. For some reason, Drew found he thought better when Sheila was beside him. He almost didn't notice how tightly Sheila was holding on. "I'll need you to answer a few of my questions first, dear Doctor. How much of 901 did you recover?"

"The cranial unit and what appeared to be the right foot."

"And how much syntho-plasm?"

"About a liter." Dr. Director was getting impatient. "Is this going somewhere?"

"Syntho-drone 901 was quite advanced," Drew said with no small amount of pride. "In a standard drone the goo itself was the power source for the exo-sleeve. The cranial units had a rudimentary CPU that regulated all functions. But 901 was different. He didn't have a central processor. His memory and personality were encoded on cyber-robotic neurons that were suspended in the plasm. The inside of the sleeve had tiny interface points much like neurotransmitter receptor sites in the human brain. Quite brilliant if I do say so myself!"

"Drew, quit gloating and get on with it!" Sheila snapped.

"Er, right." Drew pulled nervously at his collar. "If the exo-sleeve was destroyed, 901's programming would still survive in the plasm. If even a single neuron survived, all that someone would need to do is introduce a fresh batch of plasm with some inert neurons. The active neurons would transmit copies of their programming to the inert ones, and then all we would need to do is pump the goo into a new sleeve."

"Yeah, except he's in an android body now," Ron said. "We're talking Lore from _Star Trek: The Next Generation,_ but with an even worse attitude problem!"

Drew rubbed his chin. "A liter, you say? If this O'Shea person wanted to use the plasm to power his android, it's possible that the active cyber neurons were able to override the android's on board computers. Omni-Tech probably didn't even know 901 would come back online."

Dr. Director considered this. "I know a way to find out for sure. What we need to do is figure out where 901 is now."

"Easily done!" Drew announced. "The neurons continuously emit a homing signal. That's how I always knew where he and Kimberly were."

"Dude, you're getting a little too excited about this," Ron said in an angry tone.

"Calm down, Stoppable." Sheila said. "It's not every day he finds out one of his old schemes was still working." Drew's success rate during his villain days was laughable at best. These days, probably because he wasn't trying to prove his innate superiority, almost everything he built worked perfectly. Sure he had a few glitches here and there, but nothing that could cause any sort of catastrophic failure.

"Wade, get the frequency from Mr. Lipsky, and contact me when you have a fix on 901's position," Dr. Director ordered. "I have a few people I need to see."

--

Kim Possible had been told that something was about to hit the fan when she was recalled to Fast Track from her holiday leave, but so far all she had done was analyze Smite's past thefts, as well as some new ones that may or may not be their perp. She was supposed to find some kind of commonality to the thefts, and see if she might be able to deduce what Smite was going to make with his ill gotten equipment. So far, no luck. It wasn't just Kim who was doing this, either; half of the Fast Track teams were doing data analysis while the other half did combat simulations. _This is such a waste of time,_ Kim thought. _It took weeks for some of the thefts to be noticed. By the time we find something it might be too late. It's times like this that I really miss Wade._

"Okay, that's it," Lynn Corrigable said in a defeated voice. "My brain has officially gone into meltdown mode. If I so much as look at another theft report, you'll need to call the nice men in the white coats to take me to a padded cell." Lynn's head fell forward and impacted the table she was sitting at with a loud "thud!" Before Kim could move, another one of her Omega 12 teammates, Miles Walker, was standing behind Lynn, rubbing her shoulders. "Miles, that's really not helping me keep my eyes open," she said in a contentedly sleepy voice. He was about to return to his seat when she said "I didn't say 'stop.'"

Kim tried not to giggle. From talks she'd had with Miles over the last few months, she knew he had it bad for Lynn. The fact that he was too shy to say anything, coupled with Fast Track's policy against fraternization in the ranks for the recruits, insured that Miles hadn't approached her. After hearing about Kim's engagement, Miles was starting to make subtle moves on Lynn; moves that Lynn had most definitely noticed and greatly appreciated. Lynn and Miles had been pretty close ever since their own cold weather training back in December. Now Lynn was finally seeing what was in front of her.

"All right, you two," Kim said after clearing her throat. "Either get a room or get back to work." She smiled to herself when she saw Lynn's face turn a bright shade of crimson. _This could work,_ Kim thought. _This could so work._

_--_

"Got it!" Wade Load shouted. "I've got a lock on Smite's cyber neurons. It looks like he's heading north west."

Ron got Dr. Director on the Kimmunicator. "Wade's got him"

"Excellent work, Wade," Dr. Director smiled. "Where's he going."

"It looks like somewhere in northern Oregon." A scared look crossed Wade's face. "Fort Campbell."

"All right, it's time to get moving." Dr. Director was in her own version of mission mode. "Can we get a satellite lock on his location?"

"I'm trying," a voice off screen said. "We don't have anything on radar."

"Let me try something," Wade said. After a few seconds, his face lit up. "Got him! He's flying over Utah right now. At his current speed, he should be in Fort Campbell's air space in about ninety minutes."

"Flying?" Drew asked. "How?"

"He has some kind of jetpack wing thing," Ron said. "How fast can we get to Oregon?"

"I can have a transport tube shunted to your location in five minutes. That will put you there just behind Smite." Dr. Director looked over at Drew. "Mr. Lipsky, I'm going to need you for this, too."

"No!" Sheila grabbed the Kimmuniator from the table. "No way! Listen up, cyclops, there is no way you're putting my husband's life in danger like that. Forget it!"

"Sheila, I already told you 901 can't hurt me." Truth be told, Drew didn't want to go either, just in case the failsafe failed. Drew was never a very brave man, and he still wasn't, but he knew he had to do this.

"And how do you know that stupid failsafe will actually work? Nothing you made back then worked! I don't know why I even stuck with you! I mean, the pay wasn't that great and-"

Drew silenced her with a kiss, which grossed Ron out. He needed a ton of brain soap after being a witness at their wedding and the lip lock that came at the end of the ceremony.

"You're not leaving me to raise Joey alone," Sheila finally said. Her mood swings lately put anything the Moodulator was capable of to shame. "I lost my dad when I was little, I don't want my son lose his."

"You won't lose me, Sheila." Drew embraced his wife and started stroking her hair. "I've got too much to live for. But I owe this to Kimberly."

"Why? She hasn't said word one about this since it happened."

"I toyed with her emotions, Sheila. How would you feel if someone did that to Joey?"

Sheila said nothing. She just held Drew tighter.

It was time for the Ron-man to step up. "He'll come back, Sheila. I promise you." Sheila saw his serious face and, remembering what he did to the Lorwardians, silently nodded. "I'll, uh, be over there," he pointed to the entryway to the living room. "You know, just , being over there. Yeah,"

"We have another problem, Ron," Dr. Director said. "I can't raise Fort Campbell on any comm frequency. I don't know if we're being jammed, or if Mann has the place in some kind of lockdown. When you get there, you might be seen as an intruder."

"Great," Ron muttered. He switched over to Wade's frequency. "I think we're gonna need that new gizmo you whipped up."

"It'll be there before the tube arrives," the young genius said with a smile.

--

It wasn't the fastest flight in the world, but for an experimental jet wing, it went very well. Smite, again wearing his black infiltration suit and face covering helmet, touched down just inside Fort Campbell's perimeter. Night had long since fallen, and the darkness would be his cover.

From the outside, Fort Campbell looked like an old abandoned campground, which it what it originally was. Global Justice excavated an underground facility beneath the campground that stretched for miles in all directions. There were several hidden entrances, elevators and transport tubes hidden in the surrounding vegetation, and Smite knew where the all were. Unbeknownst to the personnel at the Global Justice storage depot he was stored at, Smite was not inert. He was conscious still, and he learned that, when not interfacing with an exo-sleeve, his cyber neurons could hack into the surrounding computers. He was able to download the schematics for every GJ facility on the west coast without them knowing, as well as the access codes. This would be a cake walk.

--

Kim was mentally exhausted. Poring over theft reports and summaries had taken their toll. This was worse than any test she had ever taken in her life. _After all this, I don't think law school will be too hard._ She put on her night clothes, grabbed her Pandaroo, and quietly slipped into bed, hoping that sleep would come quickly. She had slept a lot better since getting the Cuddle Buddy, although she had discovered that she preferred having a Monkey Master over a Pandaroo. _They cuddle back,_ she happily thought. The base security alarm going off chased away all traces of fatigue. Kim's eyes snapped open and she jumped out of bed, stopping only long enough to put on her bunny slippers and to make sure Lynn was up.

"Of course, I'm up," Lynn groused. "How can anyone sleep through this racket?

"Good," Kim said. "I gonna need backup out there. This Smite guy might have just brought the fight to us."

--

Smite had just entered the command center when a powerful alarm klaxon sounded. Fort Campbell utilized heat sensors, and since his infiltration suit completely masked his heat signature, he knew that he couldn't have set it off. It didn't matter, though, someone might get lucky and find him. He needed to get this done and fast. Smite cracked the code to the command center door and found a pleasant surprise waiting for him.

"Marcus Mann," Smite said. "Funny meeting you here."

The chief agent was sitting at a large computer screen, going over syntho-drone schematics. "How the hell did you get in here?" he demanded as he jumped out of his chair. Instinctively he went for his hip, only to find that his ever present sidearm wasn't there.

"I was going to rough you up, take out Possible, and then maybe, just maybe if I had enough time, pull your spine out your nose." Smite clenched his fists. "I guess I'll do that first."

With lightning speed, Smite grabbed Mann's collar and drew his fist back. Before he could punch a hole in the chief agent's skull, someone grabbed the back of his shirt and hurled him to the other side of the command center. When Smite looked up, he saw Ron Stoppable standing over him with his eyes glowing a violent blue. "Syntho-dude, you are going down again," Ron announced as he shucked off his backpack.

"So, you figured it out, huh?" Smite taunted. "Love the trick with the eyes, Ronnie. Some kind of contact lenses?"

Ron smiled and cracked his knuckles. "You'll see, pretty boy."

"Look who else joined the party," Smite said when he noticed Drew Lipsky enter the room. "Hi, 'Dad.' I hear you're replacing me with a flesh and blood model. Maybe I should go pay 'Mommy Shego' and the brat a visit soon."

Ron snapped. "No one!" Ron punched Smite in the abdomen, doubling him over. "Threatens!" An upper cut sent Smite flying backwards. "Ron Stoppable's!" A roundhouse kick to the head sent Smite to the other side of the room, breaking the joint in his right ankle. "_GODSON!!"_ Ron grabbed Smite by the left arm and threw him, tearing Smite's arm off in the process.

Ron was still clutching Smite's arm when Kim and a few other cadet agents came running into the command center. "Drew?" she said when she saw her former nemesis. "You set off the alarm?"

"Sorry," he said sheepishly "I didn't see the heat sensors."

"Ron!" Kim saw her fiancee holding a sparking robot arm and slowly approaching the black clad intruder.

"You're wearing each other's clothes now?" Smite said with disgust when he saw what Kim was wearing; a pair of black pajama pants and one of Ron's Middleton High football jerseys. "You guys are pathetic."

"Sour grapes, syntho-dud," Ron taunted.

"Syntho?"

"Yeah, KP," Ron said in an apologetic tone. There was no way to do this gently. "Turns out Smite here is really Erik."

Smite stood and pulled his helmet off. "I told you you'd find out who I was soon enough, Kimmie. Miss me?"

Kim felt like she'd been punched in the stomach. Her face went pale and her knees started to buckle. Drew was there in an instant to keep her steady. "How?"

"We don't know, Kimberly," Drew said. "But it is him."

It all came flooding back to her. The shock, both electrical and emotional when Erik showed his true colors. The shame she felt when Ron finally told her how he felt about her, and how she had been burying her own feelings for Ron out of fear of Bonnie's ridicule. _I was so infatuated with that thing,_ she thought. _So selfish and shallow. I could see that I was hurting Ron and I ignored it, but I still expected him to be there when I needed him. And he was. He was always there for me._ She started to fiddle with her engagement ring. She just knew that, if Erik had been real and things got serious, Ron would have backed off had she asked.

"The gang's almost all here." Smite got ready for another attack. "Where's that disgusting hairless freak?"

Rufus, who had taken refuge in Drew's pocket, poked his head out and growled.

"You can't bite holes in me this time!"

Before Smite could launch a new attack, a hand belted him across the face. His own hand. Ron was wielding Smite's severed arm like a weapon. "I told you before, dude, don't be dissing the Rufus!" Ron changed his grip on the arm, holding it by its wrist. He swung it around and them smashed Smite in the face a few more times, all the while saying "Quit hitting yourself."

Finally, Ron was tired of toying with his android opponent. "Hey, pretty boy, remember this one?" Ron dropped to all fours and executed a perfect back flip. Ron's feet caught Smite's chin and sent his head in a one hundred and eighty degree spin. Smite staggered backward and, with his remaining hand, tried to right his disjointed head. Unlike his old syntho-drone body which was quite malleable, his android form wasn't going to be as easy to fix. Sparks were flying from the tears in his artificial skin as Smite tried to return his head to the face forward position. His neck servos whined loudly with each try.

Kim had since relaxed. In fact, she was standing up straight, her arms folded, and wearing a decidedly smug and satisfied look on her face. Seeing her man kick the crap out of that synthetic atrocity had put her in a much better mood.

"It is so over, Erik." Ron was done playing. "You can't fight what you can't see, you don't have a leg to stand on, and you've been disarmed." Ron couldn't resist that one.

"I still have one trick left." A long spike popped out of Smite's remaining hand. He lunged for the computer, driving the spike into the keyboard. The lights flickered and the computer terminal exploded. The jets on Smite's wing ignited and launched him towards the vaulted ceiling. Despite the ceiling's structural reinforcement, he tore through it and continued his upward flight.

"He's trying to punch his way to the surface!" Mann shouted. He got on the base's intercom. "All base security," he yelled, but the intercom wasnt working. "Dammit. He disabled our systems." He spun angrily and glared at Ron Stoppable. "You," he growled. "I warned you what would happen if you ever tried anything! Well, bucko, you just dug your own grave." Mann eyed the assembled cadet agents and saw a face he knew would obey him. "Cadet Agent O'Shea, please take this civilian into custody."

Rick, smirking like a man who had just won the lottery, sauntered up to Ron with a cocky attitude despite the fact that he was wearing a tank top and Scamper and Bitey boxer shorts.

"Ron just saved your life again!" Miles Walker protested. "This isn't right."

Mann lost it. "I'm in charge here, Walker, and I will decide what's right and what's not!"

"Not anymore you're not," an authoritative voice declared. Dr. Betty Director, flanked bill Will Du and various other agents, stormed in out of nowhere. One of the agents was dragging Bradley O'Shea by the collar of his bath robe.

"Dad?" Rick said. "What the hell do you think you're doing, lady? Don't you know who we are?!"

"We don't care who you are, Rick," Kim blurted out.

"Thank you, Kim," Dr. Director sneered. "As I was saying, Chief Agent Mann, you are no longer in charge of this facility." Dr. Director got right in Mann's face. "It is my duty to inform you that, as of one hour ago, the United Nations Security Council authorized me to enact Protocol Zero One."

Mann's face went pale. "No one has ever enacted Zero One."

"I'm the first," Dr. Director agreed. "For those of you who don't know, Protocol Zero One puts any and all GJ directorates under the direct authority of the supreme commander during times of emergency or crisis. I am that supreme commander, which means you will all answer directly to me from now on!" Dr. Director shot Rick O'Shea a dirty look. "Release Mr. Stoppable now, Cadet Agent, and get out of my way." Rick reluctantly complied. "If it wasn't for Ron, your brain would now have built in air conditioning, Mann. And as for our backwards facing friend, we can track him wherever he goes."

"What about him?" Mann asked, pointing at Drakken. "He built that thing in the first place. Why is he here?"

Drew wasn't going to take the bait. "I was like you once," he said smugly. "I thought that I was better than the rest of the world, and that they owed it to me to acknowledge my greatness!" Drew's lips grew into a maniacal sneer. "I demanded respect instead of earning it. But all that's changed."

"Why?" Mann snorted. "You think just because you got some medal from the UN that it makes you a mmmph..." Mann was silenced when a vine sprouted from the back of Drew's neck and wrapped itself around Mann's face, gagging him.

"My wife is due to give birth in a couple of months," Drew retorted in an even tone. "And I want to be the kind of man my son can look up to and respect. It's bad enough that I'm going to have to tell him all the terrible things his mother and I did. I'm going to have to tell him that I built a syntho-drone to manipulate his godmother's emotions. I will be damned if I tell him that I gave up the chance to make it right!"

"Drew, it's okay," Kim said. Ron grunted. "I admit that it hurt, Ron." She took Ron's hand. "But look what I got out of it. I may have lost a hottie who would have met with Bonnie's approval, but instead I got a husband out of it. I won in so many ways that night."

"I guess you're right, KP."

"You're giving me cavities," Bradley O'Shea gagged. "What the hell is this, a soap opera?"

"No, Mr. O'Shea," Dr, Director replied. "This is a weenie roast. And guess what? You're the weenie. Now you two," she gestured at Mann, "are going to tell me exactly how the hell Syntho-drone 901 got in your possession, and how it was turned into that thing Mr. Stoppable mopped the floor with."

"You don't know who you're messing with, missy!" Mr. O'Shea taunted. "I can have you and this little play group of yours locked up for kidnapping and wrongful imprisonment by dawn."

"Now how are you going to do that, Mr. O'Shea?" Dr, Director was down to her last nerve. "Global Justice doesn't exist to the world at large, remember? Besides, you're in enough hot water as it is. You were in criminal possession of contraband villain tech, and you made false charges against one Jennifer Casey. Do yourself a favor and answer my questions."

"Go to hell," O'Shea snarled.

"Okay, Dr. Director," Mann said. He knew it was over. "I'll tell you what you want to know, but I need you to do something for me."

"Abigail's already been taken into protective custody, as have her mother and step-father." Dr. Director grabbed a chair and sat down.

Mr. O'Shea couldn't believe his ears. "What the hell do you think you're doing, Mann?!"

"I'm coming clean, O'Shea. It turns out I have something in common with Dr. Drakken here."

"It's Drew Lipsky," Ron corrected.

"Right, Mr. Lipsky," Mann muttered. "I Have a sixteen year old daughter who means more to me than anything. I don't want her to hate me for this. Call it making preemptive amends." Mann took a deep breath and grabbed a chair of his own. "What do you want to know first?"


	10. Chapter 10

_Disney owns the characters; I'm just taking them for a test drive._

_--_

"What do you want to know first?" It was over and Chief Agent Marcus Mann knew it. His command had been stripped of him by Betty Director, his compound had been infiltrated by an old mistake he'd made, and now his dirty laundry was about to be aired.

"I want to know how long you've been selling technology we've confiscated from known super villains, why you've been doing it, and how the hell Syntho-drone 901 is walking around again." Dr. Director was normally a patient woman, but her patience was now gone.

"Keep you're damn mouth shut, Mann!" Bradley O'Shea shrieked.

"You're not in charge here, Mr. O'Shea." Dr. Director didn't even look at him. "Now keep quiet or you'll be thrown in the brig."

The elder O'Shea was huffing while Mann told his story. "It started about five years ago. Between child support for my daughter, paying alimony to two ex-wives, and trying to pay off some old debts I had accumulated, my cash flow was pretty strapped. I had met Bradley O'Shea about six months prior to all this, right after Omni-Tech won the contract to develop some of our gear." Mann took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes. "He was being given a tour of the vault where we kept all the contraband when he...approached me. Omni-Tech was in a lot of trouble. The last few gadgets they made had been abysmal failures. He wanted the schematics to a few villain devices that he could reverse engineer, patent, and market. I was about to lose everything, so I agreed. I thought it was going to be a one time only thing, but I was wrong.

"He kept coming back for more," Mann continued. "I wanted out, but O'Shea basically told me that he could blow the whistle on this whole thing, and do it in such a way that he wouldn't lose a thing. I was stuck. Eventually, he wanted the actual machines themselves, not just the plans."

"Which is when we first became aware of this," Dr. Director added.

"When he bought the power core for something called a mega weather generator."

"What!?" Ron bellowed. "Not cool! That is so not cool! That's like, my intellectual property, dude!!"

"Amp down, Ron," Kim said.

"No way, KP! I designed and built that thing from scratch! I should get some Claude for it!"

"What is he babbling about?" Mann demanded. It was bad enough he was digging his own grave, he didn't need to be interrupted by the sidekick.

"It's true, Mann," Dr. Director said with a smug grin. "Ron, while under the influence of the Attitudinator, built that device. He got Drakken's evil and almost became a bigger threat than Drakken could ever hope to be. Tell me, Mr. O'Shea, what did you do with that power core?"

"We were able to scale it down and adapt it into a laptop battery. We've sold millions of them." O'Shea was not enjoying this.

"Agent Cafferty," Dr. Director said to a woman standing beside Will Du. "Talk to legal about this. See what we can do for Mr. Stoppable, here." She gave Kim and Ron a warm smile.

"See, KP," Ron gloated. "Squeaky wheel. A-booyah!"

Kim tried, unsuccessfully, to hide her own grin. "Maybe we should get on with this, since the longer we wait the farther away Smite gets."

"We can track him, Kimberly," Drew Lipsky interjected.

"I know, but I want to get to him before he has a chance to repair himself."

"Right," Mann sighed. "Someone decided to inventory the vault, noticed the power core was missing, and I came under investigation. This was right after my first proposal to launch Fast Track. It's why I had to go to the Security Council to get it off the ground. But this wasn't the last time he wanted actual hardware. A year and a half ago, just a few days after the Diablo incident, Mr. O'Shea decided that he wanted the recovered plasm for Syntho-drone 901 to power their new prototype android."

"And that's where you come in, Mr. O'Shea," Dr, Director said. She stood up and stared the businessman down. "Talk. Now."

"Lady, you don't know who you're messing with!" Rick O'Shea challenged. He was about to charge her when Miles Walker grabbed him and held him back.

"Calm down, Rick, before you make things worse."

"Screw you, Walker! Let me go!"

"Miles, let's go take Ricky-boy here for a walk," Ron suggested. He had a Zorpox-like gleam in his eyes that Kim immediately noticed.

"Ron," she started to say.

"It's all good, KP. We're just gonna calm him down."

As the three of them walked out of the command center, Dr. Director was glaring at O'Shea. "Don't make this worse for yourself. Talk. Now!"

"We used the goo to power the android," O'Shea finally said. "But as soon as the android came online, its systems started to malfunction. Or at least, that's what we thought."

"The cyber-robotic neurons were overriding its control systems," Drew proudly said. "Hah! I was right!"

"This is all your fault, you blue freak!" Mr. O'Shea growled.

"I beg to differ," Drew smugly replied. "You're the one who used known villain tech to build your own devices. You should have known that many of us build safeguards into our machines so other villains can't use them. True, this wasn't a safeguard, but still, you screwed up. In your face!" Drew stuck his tongue out at O'Shea.

"Anyway," Dr. Director said, trying to get control of this conversation again. "901 comes back online and, what, you totally restore him?"

"We were going to study him and try to refine his artificial intelligence. But the damn thing had a rebellious streak."

Ron, Miles, and Rick walked back into the room. Ron was trying to hide a look of immense satisfaction, and Miles was trying not to laugh. Rick, meanwhile, was holding his nose.

"What happened out there?" Dr. Director asked.

"Rick lost his balance and went face first into a support beam," Miles replied. "Shame, too; he may have broken his nose again."

Dr. Director didn't ask for any clarification. "The rest we can figure out," she said. "901 decided to get revenge on Kim and Ron. He started up that Friends of Kim Possible group to discourage Ron, committed crimes to get whatever gear he needed, and tried to get in here, probably to abduct or harm Kim. What all has he stolen?"

"He was trying to make something called a synaptic destabilizer, ma'am," Lynn Corrigable said. "But he wasn't able to steal a synaptic mapper he needed to make the thing work."

"Could still be dangerous if he built it," Dr. Director mused. "Agent Du," she said, turning to her right. "Please take Mr. O'Shea and Chief Agent Mann into custody."

Du looked at another GJ agent and gestured towards O'Shea, who the guard put the cuffs on. Du himself approached Mann. "I'm sorry, sir."

"No, William. I'm sorry. You're just doing your job." Mann walked in silence to the brig while O'Shea was yelling and cursing up a storm.

"Cadet Agents, this facility has been compromised," Dr. Director announced. "It is in your best interests to gather your belongings and assemble in the hover jet bay. You're all going home until further notice. All of you, that is, except Cadet Agent Possible." Dr. Director smiled at Kim. "I have another job for you."

--

Smite had crash landed for the tenth time. His right arm was now ruined from punching his way out of Fort Campbell and through fifty feet of earth and rock, and his head was still on backwards, making it nearly impossible for him to fly. The only appendage he had that still worked right was his left leg, and he almost mangled that on his last landing. "Stoppable is going to pay for this!" he growled.

Smite was on a country road in the middle of nowhere. The only thing he could see other than the pavement was an old fence post sticking out of the ground. Maybe he could use that to force his head back into place. He stumbled towards it; walking was difficult due to his damaged right ankle and the fact that he was walking backwards. He turned around, bent down, and positioned himself so that his cheek was resting on top of the post. Then, with all the strength his battered body could muster, he pushed, letting out a feral yell as he forced all his weight on his damaged neck servos.

Something gave, and Smite went crashing to the ground. It had worked, his head was again facing forward, but now his neck servos were completely destroyed. He could only look forward. Flying would only be a little easier. Silently, he stood, ignited his thrusters, and again took to the sky, vanishing into the blanket of night.

--

"What did you do?" Kim asked, trying to keep the smirk from her face.

"KP?"

"To Rick in the hallway. What did you do?"

"KP, is it my fault that he's clumsier than me? I mean, he stumbled around, lost his balance, and his nose just happened to land on my fist. Is that my fault?"

Kim was laughing hysterically now. "I wish I could have seen that."

"Wade's got the world wired, KP," Ron said. "I'm sure he got it."

_He better have, _she thought. Dr. Director was leading Kim, Ron, and Drew to the main staging area. Lynn and Miles were hot on their heels.

"Dr. Director!" Lynn called out.

"I ordered you to go to the hover jet bay." Dr. Director was not in the mood for insubordination. "What do you want?"

"Ma'am." Miles stood up straight. "Cadet Agents Miles Walker and Lynn Corrigable of Omega 12, requesting permission to join the op."

"I appreciate your enthusiasm, Cadet Agents, but this isn't a training exercise. This is the real thing, and it could kill you!"

"All the more reason for for us to have Kim and Ron's backs," Lynn added.

"May I ask why you're so adamant about this?"

"Because no one messes with Omega 12, ma'am," Miles stated.

"When they do, we mess them up right back," Lynn added. "And this Smite bastard messed with our friends. We want to help."

Dr. Director smiled at the two cadet agents. "Good answer," she said. "You're part of the mission. Let's go, we don't have a lot of time."

Fort Campbell's staging area was a large, circular room with a holographic projector in the center. With the push of a few buttons, Smite's erratic flight path shimmered into view. "You really hurt him, Ron. That's slowing his progress, making it easier for us to find him. But it's going to make him want to rip you apart worse than he did before. Mr. Lipsky." Dr. Director turned to the reformed villain. "Is there any way to disrupt his cyber-robotic neurons?"

"An electromagnetic pulse is out of the question," Drew said, rubbing his chin in thought. "The plasm shields his neurons from all EM radiation. However, without an exo-sleeve, 901 has to be using low level radio transmissions to interface with his new body."

Wade Load's face appeared on the Ronlink. "If that's the case, why doesn't he transfer his program entirely to a new system instead of staying in the neurons."

"I don't think he can," Drew said. "All the neurons transmit their programming simultaneously. There would be thousands of copies, all fighting it out for dominance."

"Can we block the frequency?" Dr. Director asked.

"Unfortunately no," Drew said. "The signal modulates just in case something tries to jam it." He rubbed his chin in thought. "But there is a secondary frequency; one that I used to download new instructions and programming directly to the cyber neurons. Maybe we can use that signal against him somehow."

"A computer virus!" Wade exclaimed. "Those neurons are basically microscopic computers! I can whip up a virus that will completely shut down Smite's entire processor web."

"We'll need something to transmit that virus with, Wade," Kim said.

"We have it!" Wade announced. "Or rather, Ron does."

"I do?"

"In your backpack."

"Oh yeah!" Ron shucked off his backpack and handed it to Kim. "We thought you might need this."

Kim opened the backpack and saw a white and blue garment, neatly folded. She pulled it out and got a confused look on her face. "It's my battle suit."

"Correction. That's your battle suit version two point oh!" Ron grandly proclaimed. "Wade put in some new bells and whistles."

"It's made of a nanite fiber weave," Wade explained. "It can repair itself faster, and reconfigure itself into more preset weapons than your old suit. And it has a direct Kimmunicator link with a signal booster. Once I have the virus written, all you have to do is transmit it through the battle suit, and Smite will be nothing but a puddle of slime."

Kim got a dangerous look on her face. "Let's do it."

--

Finally, _finally_ Smite made it to his Middleton lair. He was in real trouble now; he tore his good leg off in the landing, and was now totally unable to move. In an act of desperation he severed the interface with his android body and used the transmitters in his neurons to call for help from some of the worker robots he had maintaining the lair. A platform-like robot on tank treads came up to Smite's broken form, and gently lifted him onto itself. As the robot took Smite deeper into the old warehouse he was now living in, he was already making plans. It wouldn't be pretty, but he had what he needed to make himself whole once more. It was time to show Stoppable that he, too, could step up.

--

The hover transport shot through the pre dawn sky like a bullet from a gun. It was in stealth mode and the engines were running silent, but it still presented a menacing image. They had traced Smite to an old warehouse in a sector of Middleton that was still being rebuilt after the previous year's Lorwardian invasion. Dr. Director had decided against using a transport tube to deposit Team Possible to their target. If Smite had in depth knowledge about GJ tech and operations, he would be expecting it. Besides, Kim and Ron would need someone other than Wade, who was still working on the computer virus, to provide intel and warn them of traps. That's where the hover jet came into play, along with Lynn and Miles.

"Penny for your thoughts, Ron." Kim had noticed that her fiancee was more fidgety than he normally would be before a big mission. Rufus had to abandon his pocket because Ron had been squirming so much.

"Just thinking that this reminds me of what wound up turning into our first date, y'know?" Ron finally made eye contact. "Going into a dangerous sitch, looking for Erik."

"Only this time, we know Erik _is_ the dangerous sitch," Kim said in a soothing tone. "And technically, I think that wound up being our second date, if you don't count your cousin's wedding. The Middleton days festival was our first date, remember?" She saw Ron flinch a little. "We never talk about the Moodulator date, do we?"

"Nothing really to talk about, KP." Ron was again intently investigating his mission shoes. "You were mind controlled, I dumped you, and you and Sheila tried to kill Drew and me."

"Look at us now, though. Sheila and Drew are married, have a baby on the way, and we'll be married before you know it. See? It all worked out." Kim took Ron's hand and squeezed it tightly. "And I understand why you dumped me. I wasn't myself and that scared you. It scared me a little, to tell you the truth. It was worse than when Josh Mankey was around and I want all ga ga. I never did that with you, Ron, and that's because I always knew I could be myself around you and not scare you off."

The patented Stoppable lopsided grin graced his features, and he leaned in to give his lady a kiss. Their lips were mere millimeters apart when the Kimmunicator in Kim's battle suit went off. "He has the worst timing," Kim grumbled. Wade's image appeared on the back of Kim's right hand. "What's the sitch, Wade?"

"The virus should be ready shortly after you touch down," he replied. "According to Drew, if I did this right it should work within five seconds."

"We hope," Drew said when his face appeared on the screen. He had been sent to Wade's house via a transport tube to help with the virus. "We can't be sure that 901 hasn't disabled that signal."

"He didn't disable the tracking beacon," Miles, who was sitting across from Kim and Ron, interjected.

"Yeah, but that was before Ron turned him into a pretzel," Lynn said. "He might have wised up that we know more about his innards than he does."

"No time to dwell on that now," Kim said. "What's our ETA?" she asked the pilot.

"Three minutes to drop zone for you and Stoppable."

"Man, I hate freefall," Ron groused.

"I'll make it worth your while later," Kim said in a suggestive voice.

"Booyah!"

"God, you two are worse than us!" Lynn laughed.

"Very funny." Kim unbuckled her seat belt and went for the drop doors. _It's payback time, Erik._

_--_

Kim and Ron touched down on a rooftop directly across from the old warehouse. Before the invasion, this had been used to store TVs and other electronic products before they were shipped out to retailers. A large chunk had been torn out of the front of the building, probably by the leg of a Lorwardian walker. Kim surveyed the terrain before her, and got a little nervous. "I don't see anything that could even remotely be a trap. Either there aren't any, or they're too well hidden to see."

"Statistically speaking, we have a better chance of being struck by lightning right after winning the lottery than of going into a lair with no traps," Ron said in a defeated tone.

"Agreed." An image of Lynn Corrigable and Miles Walker appeared on the back of Kim's hand. "You guys see anything from your angle?"

The hover jet, still in stealth mode, was hovering at station keeping several thousand feet above the warehouse. "Thermal scans indicate several power sources littering the ground surrounding the target," Lynn said. "Probably proximity mines."

"I'll try to disable them from here," Miles added.

After a few seconds, Lynn came back. "All mines deactivated. But there do seem to be some anti-personnel pulse blasters on the roof, and around the big whole in the front. We recommend you go around to the back."

"No," Kim said. "I'll bet the back is worse." She saw Lynn adjusting her scans. "When you're right, you're right. The backside of the building is covered with pulse blasters. And it looks like there's a bunch of trip wires, too. How'd you know?"

"Past experience," Kim said. "I've been doing this a while."

"It's a safe bet he knows we're here," Ron said.

"Ron's probably right," Miles nodded. "Plus, we don't know if he's still a walking pile of scrap."

"Okay, it looks like infiltration is out." Kim's eyes narrowed as she dropped into a combat ready stance. "Time to see what this battle suit can really do. Ron?"

Ron's eyes were already blue and glowing. "Ready, KP."

"Let's go!"

--

He moved. It took great will and effort, but Smite moved. His servo motors were stiff, the hydraulics untested, and the technological components of his composite form were barely compatible, but he was much more powerful than before. "I'm ready for you, Kim," Smite challenged. "Don't keep me waiting."

--

The blasters kicked in as soon as Kim and Ron were on the ground. They had to bob and weave like boxers, avoiding blasts before they were fired. The Mystical Monkey Power gave Ron the agility and instinct he needed to avoid the blasts, and Kim followed his lead with her battle suit's shields at full. Finally they broke through the defensive perimeter and reached the large gap in the warehouse wall.

"We're through, Wade, how soon till we have that virus?" Kim was worried; it didn't usually take Wade this long to come through on a promise.

"I wish I knew, Kim. This is turning out to be a lot harder than I thought." It hurt Wade to say that. "These things are really complex for something so small. You'll know as soon as I have it uploaded to your battle suit."

"Keep us posted, please and thank you." Kim was about to enter the warehouse when Ron grabbed her and passionately kissed her.

"Mmmmmm," she purred. "Nice, but so not the time. What's the sitch?"

"I just wanted you to know how much I love you," he said in a shaky voice. "You know, in case..."

"We're gonna live thorugh this, Ron," Kim said with convition. "Erik couldn't beat us before, and he won't beat us now."

"Kim." The face of Miles Walker appeared on the back of her hand. "I have an urgent message from Dr. Director. A crap load of Lorwardian salvage was taken from a GJ storage depot. Evidence at the scene, or lack thereof, points to 901."

"You don't think?" Before Ron could finish his question, a loud crash came from inside the warehouse. With only a look and a nod, Team Possible charged forward, ready to take Smite down once and for all.

The warehouse itself was in ruins; broken support beams and shattered electronics littered the ground and blocked their way. Ron had to send Rufus to find a way through. "Trap door!" the naked mole rat announced. "Follow me!"

The trap door took Kim and Ron to a large chamber under the warehouse. At the mouth of the entrance they found the broken and twisted remains of Smite. He looked worse than the last time they saw him; his left leg was now gone, his right arm was a mangled, unrecognizable mess, there was a gaping hole in his chest where his syntho-plasm core had been removed, and his head was missing.

"That's so gorchy," Kim said with a grimace. "Like something out of a horror movie."

"Actually," a booming, electronically distorted voice bellowed. "I think my new body is much more worthy of a lead role in a monster movie than that pile of junk."

"Dear God," Kim gasped. Before her was a fifteen foot tall metal behemoth; a Frankenstein-like patchwork of human and Lorwardian materials held together with welds and rivets.

Smite's new arms had been the arms cranes, with mechanical claws for hands. The legs had been made from the remains of the Lorwardian walkers, as had his lower abdomen. Had the walker legs been fully intact, Smite would have been as tall as a sky scraper. His upper torso looked like a large death ray housing. On the chest was with the parabolic mirror array that was stolen from the Middleton Space Center all those months ago. The head was what was most disturbing; it was the head from Smite's android body.

"Okay," Ron said, unimpressed. "He stole that from _Robot Chicken."_

"Not pretty I know," the lumbering hulk said. "But it has a few tricks." The curved mirror on Smite's chest started to move. It was mounted to the end of a retractable gun barrel, which was now extending.

Kim realized why Smite's upper body looked like a death ray; that's what it was, and a cannon had just deployed from it! "So not good," she said under her breath.

"Since I never got that synaptic mapper, I wasn't able to complete my synaptic destabilizer," Smite sneered. "I guess I'll just have to settle on a neural disruptor. Say goodbye to your higher brain functions, Kim!" The cannon came to life, blasting a blood red beam right at Kim.

"KP!!" Ron erupted into a blue inferno that coalesced into a monkey shaped aura around his now blue body. The room trembled as the sound of thousands of shrieking monkeys of all species filled the air. The Ultimate Monkey Master threw himself in the path of the disruptor, shielding the woman he loved with his own body. "So not happening, pretty boy," he growled. Finally the beam stopped, and Ron charged at the metal monstrosity. "This time you're going down and staying down!"

Ron went for Smite's right arm, pulling it off like a piece of string cheese and then, after Ron again hit the ground, swung the appendage like a war club, sweeping Smite's legs out from under him.

"What are you?!" Smite had never seen anything like this before, not even from Shego.

"Me? I'm Ron Stoppable, son of Dean and Dana Stoppble and bondiggety big brother extraordinaire to Hana. I'm the Ultimate Monkey Master, wielder of the Mystical Monkey Power and master of the Lotus Blade. And most importantly, I'm gonna be Kim Possible's husband! But to you, I'm the guy who kicked your rusty metal ass from here to Neptune!"

"I don't think so, loser!" Smite unleashed the full fury of the neural disruptor on Ron. His aura burned brighter as the beam pushed him back, making Ron look like a small blue sun. "Not...going...to work." Ron had to force the words out through clenched teeth.

"Ron no!" Kim and Rufus couldn't sit on the sidelines anymore. They were about to charge to Ron's side when he stopped them.

"Don't, KP!"

"He'll kill you!" She could feel tears starting to sting her eyes.

"Better me...than you!"

"No, Ron! No way! We go together if it comes to that! You're not leaving me alone!"

"How touching," Smite taunted. "You were never like that with me. But don't worry, I'll scramble your brains next." Suddenly the power beam sputtered. Smite saw smoke coming from his chest. "What the hell?" The neural disruptor was overheating, threatening to blow his new body to pieces. He was forced to shut the cannon down. "Big deal," he said. "Like I need this thing to crush you."

Ron, still surrounded by a strong blue aura, was struggling to stay conscious. The crash was coming and he could feel it. Shielding himself took more out of him than he thought it would; more than fighting the Lorwardians had.

"Easy, Ron!" Kim was at his side before he could blink, easing him to the ground. "Stay with me. I need you if we're going to get through this."

"Wouldn't dream...of going anywhere, KP." At that moment, Ron was struck with an idea. He grabbed Kim's shoulders and looked her dead in the eyes. "Do you trust me?"

"With my life."

Suddenly, Ron's aura extended around Kim. Her skin remained its normal color, but her eyes and hair, which was now billowing in some unseen gale, were now a brilliant blue. A dangerous smile crossed Kim's lips when she realized what was happening. "Spankin'," was all she could say.

Kim confidently strode up to Smite, a jagged string of blue light connecting her to Ron. _This is more intense than when I had Hego's strength,_ she thought. _I can hear Ron, Rufus and Hana. I can feel them in my heart and in my soul. I'm stronger than I've ever been because Ron's part of me, and I am so going to rip this freak apart!_

"Go get him, KP," she heard Ron say, both in her heart and from behind her.

"Your little light show can't stop me!" Smite screamed. "You're all dead!"

"No. You are." Kim flew at Smite like a torpedo, grabbing the disruptor cannon and tearing it off his chest. Kim swung the cannon at Smite's head and swatted it off, sending the Smite's cranium flying into a wall. Kim leapt back when the headless machine started thrashing about wildly. That's when she noticed that the blue areas of her battle suit were glowing brighter.

"Kim!" Wade's face appeared on the back of Kim's hand. "The virus is uploaded to your suit and ready to transmit."

Kim held her arms out in front of her. Her gloves shifted and merged into a radio dish. "Burn in hell, Erik!" she yelled, and beamed the virus right at Smite's syntho-core. Finally, the patchwork robot ground to a halt and toppled over.

"It worked, Kim," Wade said with a sigh of relief. "All cyber-robotic neurons are deactivated. Uh, Kim, what's up with your hair?"

"Tell you later, Wade. Have Lynn and Miles radio Global Justice and tell them that we're ready to take out the trash."

"You got it."

"Ron!" Kim was again at his side, gently holding his hand. "We did it, Ron."

"Yeah. We did it." The aura disipated, returning Kim and Ron to normal. "I go nighty night now," Ron said right before blacking out.

Kim felt a wave of exhaustion wash over her the likes of which she had never felt before. She collapsed right beside him.

"Kim! Ron!" Lynn Corrigable came charging into the lair. "Miles!" she screamed into her comm. "We need medics! Kim and Ron are down!"

_--_

At that moment on a mountaintop in Japan, a bearded man wearing a red and gold robe smiled. _Yet again Stoppable-sama has proved he is worthy of the power,_ Sensei happily thought. _He is the first to willingly share that power with another. He truly is the Ultimate Monkey Master. His great heart and capacity to love have again triumphed. _Sensei felt a great deal of pride in his student.

_--_

Sheila Gordon-Lipsky sat quietly on her living room couch with an empty carton of ice cream and an empty pickle jar on the coffee table. Drew had been gone for hours, and it had been at least an hour since Wade last sent her an update. Her head shot up when she heard the front door unlock and open.

"Thank God," she sobbed when a tired and haggard Drew Lipsky dragged himself through the door. Sheila threw herself into her husband's arms and hugged him tightly. After a few moments she pulled away, and smacked Drew as hard as she could. "That's for scaring a pregnant woman!" Then she kissed him with more feeling than she had ever kissed anyone with before. "And that's for coming back to us." She felt her son kick when she said that. _It looks like Joey's glad Daddy's home, too._

_--_

Kim Possible sat at Ron's bedside in the infirmary of the GJ Middleton strongold. She had only been out for a few hours, and had just come to a few minutes ago. She held a steaming cup of coffee in one hand, and held one of Ron's hands with the other, hoping that if she could somehow share her strength with him, it would wake him up faster.

_I was lucky,_ she thought. _He only gave me a little bit of the power. That's probably why I'm back on my feet already. _She looked at the peaceful look Ron had on his face. Then she watched Rufus snuggle into his human's shoulder; the little mole rat hadn't left Ron's side since they were extracted from the warehouse.

"How's he doing?" Miles Walker asked. He and Lynn Corrigable walked thorugh the infirmary door hand in hand, something that Kim couldn't help but notice.

"He'll be fine after he sleeps it off," Kim replied.

"What happened?" Lynn asked.

"I wish I could tell you, but there are some people who've asked us to keep quiet about a few things."

"No worries," Miles said. "What a night."

"Welcome to my life, Miles," Kim chuckled. "Thanks for everything. We couldn't have done this without you. If you ever decide to take up freak fighting permanently, let me know. I'm sure Team Possible could do with a couple new members."

"As you like to say, Roomie, 'no big.' But I think we'll pass for now." She snuggled up to Miles. "We have other plans."

"And we'll discuss those plans in my office, Lynn." Dr. Director was standing in the doorway. "If you'd be so kind as to wait for me there? I'll be in after I go over a few things with Kim."

"Yes, ma'am," Miles said. "We'll see you later," Kim."

After Lynn and Miles left, Dr. Director sat down in front of Kim. "How long till he wakes up?"

"Could be hours, could be days." _It all depends on how much of the power he had to use, and how much of a strain it was to share it with me._

Dr. Director nodded. She knew Kim and Ron had secrets of their own, and she knew better than to pry. "I have something for you." She pulled sheet of paper bearing the Global Justice seal from her brief case. "This is your official discharge. Youre a civilian again, and we've taken the liberty of enrolling you in the University of Upperton. You'll be starting your junior year this fall."

"Junior year?" Kim had to be sure she heard that right. "I should only be a freshman."

"This is a full discharge, Kim, not an early one," Dr. Director explained. "Fast Track is now officially terminated. All cadet agents are receiving their discharges. You're getting yours first. Mr. Walker and Miss Corrigable will be getting theirs in a few minutes. I have to say that I'm very impressed with those two. They're right behind you and Ron on my short list of prospective agents now."

"No more Fast Track, huh?"

"Don't get me wrong, it was a good idea," Dr. Director said. "But it wasn't run very well. Who knows, maybe sometime in the future, a chief agent or two," she looked over at Ron, "will decide to start it up again and do it right. Until then, we'll just file it away as a failed experiment."

"What's going to happen to Smite?" Kim really didn't want to face that thing again.

"We've already burned the syntho-plasm. At the temperatures we're talking about, nothing could survive. But just to be safe, we're sealing the ashes up in a shielded canister. We're torn between dumping it into the deepest part of the ocean or shooting it into the sun. Either way, 901 is gone."

"It's too good for him," Kim grumbled under her breath. "What about Mann and O'Shea?"

"Too soon to tell," Dr. Director said. "Mann's career is over, and he's willing to testify against O'Shea. They're both looking at a lot of prison time, though. We'll have to wait and see what the world court says. Buying and selling contraband villain tech is pretty serious." Dr. Director stood and placed her hand on Kim's shoulder. "Don't dwell on that, Kim. You've got enough to think about, and a life of your own to build. Go to college, marry Ron, and be a hero. Oh, and if you're really serious about law school, you might want to take a few public speaking and debate classes. It really couldn't hurt."

--

_Author's Note: This was originally going to be the final chapter, but the fight and the lead up to it wound up being a lot longer than I expected. Next chapter will be the wrap up. _

_And thanks to all those who left comments and constructive criticism. You've made this a lot of fun to write!_


	11. Epilogue

_Disney owns the characters, I'm just taking them for a test drive._

--

"I'll see you next week, Daddy," the sixteen year old strawberry blonde said as she struggled to keep her tears in check. "I love you."

"I love you, too, pumpkin," Marcus Mann said to his daughter, hugging her tightly. In an incredible act of kindness, as well as a collossal breach in protocol, Mann had been allowed face to face visits with his daughter. Instead of being separated by a glass partition, he could actually hug her. Sometimes he thought that made it worse. Letting Abigail go was getting harder with each visit.

As soon as her father was led away, tears started to pour from Abby Mann's eyes. "Oh, Dad. Why did you do this to yourself?" It was a question she had asked herself every day for the last month; since she found out about her father's arrest and the charges against him.

"I wish I had an answer for you, Abby," Dr. Director said as she walked up behind the young woman. "I'll bet your father does, too." She gave the girl a worried look. "How are you holding up?"

"Okay I guess, Dr. Director," she lied. "You'd think I would be more used to this by now, though."

"If you do get used to it, then it's time to worry. Now come on; you look hungry. Let me get you some lunch before we take you back home."

--

Fort Campbell had been reclassified as a Global Justice detention center since Fast Track was officially terminated. Its first prisoners were former base commandant Marcus Mann, and dethroned Omni-Tech CEO Bradley O'Shea. The arrest of several operatives from the Worldwide Evil Empire had bolstered the new prison's ranks, and more prisoners would be added as more would be tyrants were captured.

As Marcus Mann was led back to his cell, he remembered the look of hurt, confusion, and shame that he had seen on his daughter's face. It was a look she wore during all of their visits. _That's worse than any prison sentence,_ he thought. _It's my fault that she feels like that, and I'm gonna have to live with that knowledge every day for the rest of my life._ Mann glanced at O'Shea's empty cell. _ Looks his son finally decided to pay him a visit._

--

Bradley O'Shea was seated behind a glass partition, awaiting his visitor. _If it is that worthless son of mine, he'd better have a damn good reason for waiting a whole month before coming to see me._

Instead of Rick O'Shea, a dark haired woman in a black business suit was escorted in. "Hello, Bradley," she said as she sat down.

"Jenn," he grunted. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Unlike you, I remember my friends when they're in jail," Jenn Casey said with a distinct edge in her voice. "Or should I say, someone I thought was my friend. You would have let me rot in prison for the rest of my life just to cover your own sorry ass, wouldn't you?"

"Is that why you're here, for some kind of 'closure?'" O'Shea was not in the mood for this.

"No, I'm here to gloat," she smugly replied. "Stock prices plummeted after news your arrest was made public. They fell even more when we had to recall every single product that had been reverse engineered from villainous origins. Fortunately, our new CEO is very shrewd. We're offering free upgrades to all of our affected customers. They'll be getting replacement products that were designed by the young man who makes Team Possible's gear. He's even agreed to act as an independant contractor and design new product lines for us."

Mrs. Casey didn't feel the need to add that the designs Wade Load sold them were old projects that he had lying around, and that the money he was paid would most likely be used to create better gear for Kim and Ron. It was Mrs. Casey's way of helping to save the world, as well as return a favor to those who helped her regain her freedom. "Thanks to that, stock prices rebounded, and we're looking at higher projections for next quarter than we've had in a long time. It looks like the company's going to be much better off without you."

"So who is this upstart who stole my job?" _I'll rip him apart when I get out of here._

Jenn Casey folded her arms, leaned back, and gave her former boss a condescending smile. "Me."

--

Abby Mann and Dr. Director sat in the cafeteria. Abby was poking at a bacon cheeseburger while Dr. Director was finishing a bowl of clam chowder. "What's gonna happen to my dad?" It was a question Abby had been wanting to ask for weeks. "No one will tell my mom anything since she's the ex-wife, and I'm just a kid so I get ignored."

Dr. Director wiped her mouth and set her napkin aside. "He cut a deal, and is going to testify against his accomplice. His career is over, and I doubt he'll find any work in government or law enforcement after this. But considering how successful a couple of ex-vilains I know have been, and how much ambition your dad has, I wouldn't count him out yet." That got a weak grin from Abby. "Depending on how the trial goes, he could be looking at at least ten years behind bars, though."

Abby nodded. "Dad's really not a bad guy, y'know? He just...screwed up."

"I know." Dr. Director gave the girl a half smile. "Just remember that this isn't your fault, Abby, and blaming yourself isn't going to do any good. Now, why don't you tell me about this little internet group you started up."

Abby's face lit up. "The Friends of Team Possible." True, they were involved with her dad's downfall, but they weren't behind it. Besides, Kim Possible had been a hero of Abby's for a long time. "We're an officially recognized fan site now," she said. "We even have a link on Kim's main page. This month is 'Ron Stoppable Appreciation Month.' I know it isn't much, but after what my dad did to him, I figured it was the least I could do."

"Knowing Ron as well as I do, I know it'll be enough."

--

A short time later, Dr. Director and Mrs. Casey sat in the office formerly occupied by Marcus Mann, discussing the business arrangemernts between Omni-Tech and Global Justice. "I believe we just reached an agreement in record time, Mrs. Casey," Dr. Director said. "It would take weeks with your predecessor."

"It's 'Jenn,' Dr. Director. And I'd like to think that I'm more approachable than he was."

"Please, call me 'Betty.' It's going to be nice working with someone I can actually talk to like a rational human being." There were times that Dr. Director wanted to use Bradley O'Shea as a punching bag during their meetings.

"That's it, then." Mrs. Casey gathered up her documents and contracts. "Is there anything else?"

"Yes. Thank you for doing what you did for Ron Stoppable."

Mrs. Casey smiled and closed her briefcase. "I wish I could have done more, Betty. After everything he did for me, that little pay off doesn't seem like much."

"Doesn't seem like much?" Dr. Director couldn't believe her ears. "That was a lot of money, Jenn! How did you get that by the board of directors?"

"I just listed it in the books as a consultation fee with compounded interest. No reason for them to really know about it."

Dr. Director shook her head and smiled. "You are a devious woman, Jenn Casey."

"That's what my husband and our son tell me." Mrs. Casey thought for a moment about how to approach her next question. "I know I really have no reason to know this, but I have to ask. What's going to happen to Mr. O'Shea now?"

"Well, provided his lawyers don't get him off on a technicality, he'll be unable to leave the country, be banned from any sort of commerce more expensive than buying a used car, and he'll be under constant surveillance for the rest of his life."

"Oh, it'll be worse than that, Betty," Mrs. Casey said. "You're gonna love this. It turns out he was embezzling from the company. He's being brought up on criminal charges, and the stock holders want to sue. He can kiss his fortune goodbye!"

--

"Well, Rufus, what do you think?" Kim Possible asked her naked mole rat friend as she wiped the sweat from her brow. "Be it ever so humble, and all that."

"Home!" Rufus squeaked. He gave an enthusuastic thumbs up.

"Yup. Home sweet home." The last month had been a whirlwind of activity for Kim. Ron awoke three days after Smite was defeated, and the two of them returned to Middleton. A few days after that, Kim attended the launch of a rocket at the Middleton Space Center that would deliver Erik's remains to their final resting place in the sun.

"I think you should do the honors, Kimmie-Cub," her dad had said, offering her the button. She didn't even hesitate. She pressed that button like Ron would press a self destruct button in a villain's lair. That was one chapter of her life that was now closed for good. But a new chapter had opened. Shortly after the launch, Ron was presented with a large check from Omni-Tech by their new CEO, Jenn Casey. Officially it was for consultations on a laptop battery, but in reality it was a royalty check for the mega weather generator power core that Bradley O'Shea had illegally acquired from Marcus Mann. That money, and a pair of real estate agents they saved from getting mauled by a mountain lion, were what brought Kim to where she was now.

Aside from an unfinished cabinet in the corner of the living room, everything in Kim and Ron's new home was all put away. Kim's dad offered to come over on Saturday to help with the cabinet since Ron has been banned from using power tools since the table saw catapult incident in shop class sophomore year.

Kim looked around her and beamed. "This is our house," she said. It was a one story, three bedroom house that was at the exact halfway point between the University of Upperton and the Institute for the Culinary Arts; shools Kim and Ron would begin attending in August. For right now though, Ron was working on getting the new Mega Smarty Mart opened, and Kim was setting up their home.

The master bedroom, of course, Kim and Ron were using. One of the bedrooms had ben set aside for Hana, who was missing her big brother terribly. _I don't know who cried more, her or Ron,_ Kim thought. The last bedroom would be a guest room until they decided to start a family.

A smaller room that adjoined the living room had been claimed as their home office. _Once we get cable and internet set up, we'll be in business. This is our house; mine and Ron's. _Kim smiled at that. She never thought that she'd be a home owner at age nineteen, or that she'd be as well off financially as she was. There was more than enough of that check leftover after the closing costs on the house and buying the furniture and appliances they needed that they could live comfortably for quite a while.

Kim looked at the wall she had just finished putting shelves on. Those shelves now held her surviving cheerleading trophies, Ron's football trophies, and various pictures of them over the years. A place of honor was being saved for their wedding pictures, but those would have to wait. They had set a tentative date for the following May, on the third anniversary of Diablo Night; it would be the final erasure of Erik from her life, and a fitting tribute to the night when she discovered what true love really was.

"Ooooh, hungry," Rufus whined.

"Yeah, I am too. Pizza?"

"Cheese!"

Kim smiled. "Yes, Rufus, we'll get extra cheese."

Kim was about to call the pizza place when the front door swung open. "Honey, I'm home!" Ron proudly declared. "Man I've been waiting to say that."

"Waiting how long, all day?" Kim asked with a cocked eyebrow. "You've said that every day since we moved in."

"But it's true." He took Kim in his arms and kissed her. "You're my honey, and I'm home." They kissed again.

"Oh no," Rufus muttered. Since they moved in the poor mole rat had noticed that, at the drop of a hat, his people would mash faces, hurry into the bedroom, and stay there for a long time while making funny noises. There were a few nights when Rufus had to sleep in the guest room. Rufus wasn't dumb, he knew what they were doing. He just didn't want to see it. He really hoped they didn't do that now; he was very hungry. Right before things could get too out of control, the four familiar alarm tones of the Kimmunicator sounded.

"You're right," Ron said as he pulled away. "He does have lousy timing."

"What's the sitch, Wade?" Kim was silently wishing that she hadn't decided to put a Kimmunicator in the living room.

"Just got a hit on the site that Professor Dementor's at it again," Wade said.

"He's not going after that time thingie again, is he?"

"Not the pan temperal vortex inducer this time, Ron. We're getting reports that he's going after an experimental light refractor."

"Okay, we're on it. Download the coordinates to the Sloth, and we'll be on our way." Kim shut off the Kimmunicator. "Duty calls."

"Awww, cheese," Rufus moaned.

"We'll stop at Bueno Nacho on the way back, buddy. How's that sound?"

"Yeah!" Rufus happily exclaimed.

--

"It's MINE!" the helmeted madman shouted as his henchmen started to load the large, rectangular device onto a waiting hover carrier. "Once I reconfigure ziz light refractor, I can plunge ze world into TOTAL DARKNESS!!"

"Think again, Dementor," Kim said. She had her arms folded and was leaning against the wall. "You're not going anywhere."

"Vell vell vell, Fraulein Possible is back!" Dementor noticed that Kim was in her standard purple and balck mission gear. "You do not have ze zelf healing suit, zo you CANNOT STOP ME!"

"Oh I don't need the suit to stop you, shorty," Kim taunted. "I have something better. I have a Monkey Master."

"Iz zat so? MINIONS!!" In the blink of an eye, Dementors goons were surrounding Kim with their weapons drawn. "Vhere is zis 'Monkey Master' of yours, Fraulein Possible?"

"Right here, helmet dude," Ron said as he emerged from the darkness. He cracked his knuckles and let his eyes briefly flash blue. The henchmen all dropped their weapons and surrendered, not wanting to be on the receiving end of Ron's mad fu skills again.

"VHAT ARE YOU DOING! DON'T ZURRENDER, YOU FOOLS!"

"Forget it, boss," one henchman said. "I don't wanna spend another six weeks in traction!"

"Vhell at least zis time I can admit to beaing beaten by Kim Possible," Demntor muttered.

"Oh no," Kim said. "You're going to admit to the world that Ron Stoppable beat you, and he did it without even lifting a finger."

"NEIN! I will NOT!"

"Ron?"

Again, his eyes went blue, but this time they stayed that way.

"NO! Don't hurt me! I vill do as you zay."

"Booyah," Ron said in a satisfied tone.

--

_Where is it?_ Rick O'Shea thought as, for the twenty third straight day, he went through his father's study. _Dad was paranoid, so he would've hidden it. But where?_ Rick knew that it was only a matter of time until the police, Global Justice, and the lawyers came through and picked this place apart. He was determined to find his prize long before then.

Rick was beyond angry; he was furious. He was furious with his father for being a self righteous bastard, and with Global Justice for ruining his family name. But most of all, he was furious with Team Possible. Stoppable broke his nose again and kept him from getting what he wanted, and Possible had spurned his advances over and over. _They're gonna pay for it._

Where before Kim was just a conquest, now she was a symbol. If Rick could take her down, he would finally get the respect that had eluded him his whole life. Good looks, a rich upringing, and a promising future had brought him nothing. Now, the world would pay for his failures. Rick again went to his dad's bookcase, and for the first time, noticed something that was out of place. _The Complete Works of William Shakespear_. Bradley O'Shea hated classic literature.

Rick pulled the book from the case and opened it. "Yes!" He had finally found his father's list of passwords. Now he could go through his dad's computer files and take whatever he needed to exact his revenge. "Look out, Kimmie, Rick O'Shea's gonna bounce back and take you down!"

--

_Author's note: So ends my first attempt at fan fiction. Special thanks going out to Sentinel103 for his brilliant idea about Kim being the one to hit the launch button that shot Erik into the sun. And a big thanks to everyone who read this and reviewed it. _


End file.
